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PRESENTED  TO  THE  l?i 

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41  -  AX 


MEMORIAL  ADDRESSES 


LIFE  AND 


GARRETT    DAVIS, 


(A     SENATOR     FROM     KENTUCKY,) 


DELIVERED    IN    THE 


SENATE  AND  WOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

U.  S, 
« i 

FORTY- SECOND    CONGRESS,    THIRD   SESSION, 
DECEMBER    18,    1872. 


PUBLISHED   BY   ORDER  OF  CONGRESS. 


WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT      PRINTING      OFFICE. 

I873- 


GARRETT    DAVIS. 


PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  SENATE. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  STEVENSON,  OF  KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  rise  to  announce  an  event  which  will  be  received 
by  the  Senate,  I  am  sure,  with  profound  regret  and  the  sincerest  sorrow. 

Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  late  a  Senator  from  the  Commonwealth  of 
Kentucky,  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  is  no  more!  Upon 
the  22d  of  September  last,  at  his  own  home  near  Paris,  Kentucky,  he 
passed  quietly  away,  cheered  by  the  presence  of  his  sorrowing  children 
and  surrounded  by  devoted  personal  friends. 

It  is  sad  to  realize  that  his  long  life  of  faithful  public  service  is 
ended.  We  grieve  that  those  earnest,  fearless  utterances  in  the  sup 
port  of  whatever  he  deemed  right,  those  fierce  and  impassioned  de 
nunciations  of  whatever  he  believed  to  be  wrong,  so  often  heard  in 
this  Chamber,  are  hushed  forever. 

Although  the  rapidly  declining  health  of  the  departed  Senator  dur 
ing  our  last  session  rendered  the  sad  event  which  we  are  now  called 
upon  to  deplore  not  improbable,  still  every  heart  in  the  Chamber  is 
deeply  touched  by  its  reality.  Full  of  years  and  full  of  honors,  GAR 
RETT  DAVIS  has  passed  away.  All  that  is  left  to  us  is  the  memory  of 
his  virtues  and  the  remembrance  of  his  exalted  patriotism. 

This  is  not  the  place,  nor  the  present  the  time,  for  any  eulogium  or 
lengthened  sketch  of  the  life  and  public  services  of  my  late  colleague 
and  friend.  And  yet,  Mr.  President,  my  sad  trust  would  seem  to  me 


4  REMARKS    BY    MR.    STEVENSON    ON    THE 

but  half  discharged,  were  I  to  omit  all  reference  to  some  of  the  salient 
and  striking  traits  which  marked  his  life. 

GARRETT  DAVIS  was  a  native  of  Kentucky.  He  was  born  in  Mount 
Sterling  on  the  loth  of  September,  1801.  His  father  and  mother 
emigrated  from  Montgomery  County,  Maryland,  to  the  county  of  the 
same  name  in  Kentucky.  His  mother  was  a  Miss  Garrett,  a  family 
still  well  and  widely  known  in  Maryland,  and  it  was  from  his  mother's 
family  that  he  derived  his  own  baptismal  name.  His  father  was  a 
man  of  marked  character.  To  energy  and  industry,  he  added  strong 
will  and  great  personal  popularity.  He  was  for  many  years  the 
sheriff  of  his  adopted  county,  and  represented  it  several  times  in  the 
lower  branch  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Kentucky.  The  strongly 
marked  character  of  the  parents  was  deeply  impressed  upon  their 
children.  Mr.  DAVIS  was  one  of  three  brothers.  The  brilliant  talents 
of  two  of  them,  Amos  and  Singleton  Davis,  long  since  dead,  are  still 
remembered  in  Kentucky,  while  the  long  and  distinguished  public 
service  of  him  whom  we  to-day  mourn,  is  imperishably  interwoven 
with  the  public  annals  of  an  entire  country. 

Mr.  DAVIS  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  what  we  know  in  Kentucky 
as  a  common  country  school.  At  the  early  period  when  his  father 
left  Maryland  to  find  a  new  home  in  the  wild  and  sparsely  settled 
portion  of  Kentucky  where  he  settled,  the  means  of  instruction  were 
extremely  limited.  Mr.  DAVIS  applied  himself  diligently,  and  soon 
acquired  a  good  English  education,  with  some  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
and  Greek  languages.  At  an  early  age  he  determined  to  study  law. 
With  a  view  of  practical  knowledge  he  sought  employment  as  a 
deputy  in  the  circuit  court  clerk's  office  of  Montgomery  County.  In 
1823  he  removed  to  Bourbon  County,  where  he  continued  to  prose 
cute  his  legal  studies,  and  at  the  same  time  to  write  in  the  circuit 
court  clerk's  office  of  that  county.  About  the  year  1824  he  com 
menced  the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Paris,  and  to  it  he  conse 
crated  the  earlier  years  of  life  with  enthusiastic  devotion. 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  5 

In  1825  he  married  the  daughter  of  Robert  Trimble,  a  distin 
guished  jurist,  who  became  subsequently  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  This  accomplished  woman  died  in 
Washington  in  1842,  leaving  a  son  and  two  daughters,  who  survive 
their  father.  In  1845  Mr.  DAVIS  married  the  widow  of  Thomas 
Elliott,  a  prominent  lawyer  at  the  Paris  bar.  She  died  in  October, 
1868,  leaving  one  son,  who  is  living. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  indefatigable  and  laborious  in  his  legal  studies. 
"Such  industry  produced  its  fruits."  His  business  increased,  and  he 
rapidly  rose  to  a  high  position  at  a  bar  which  then  numbered  some 
of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  in  the  Commonwealth.  He  regarded 
the  law  as  the  noblest  science  of  intellectual  triumph.  He  loved  the 
administration  of  justice.  It  challenged  his  admiration  and  stimulated 
his  professional  aspirations.  All  who  have  encountered  him  as  an 
opponent  in  the  trial  of  an  important  cause,  as  it  has  been  my  experi 
ence  occasionally  to  have  done,  will  bear  willing  testimony  to  his  high 
qualities  as  an  able  and  strong  lawyer.  His  last  argument  but  one 
in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  reported  case  of 
Missouri  vs.  Kentucky,  is  a  lasting  memorial  of  his  legal  learning  and 
professional  power.  Had  his  whole  life  been  devoted  exclusively  to 
professional  labor,  none  who  knew  him  could  doubt,  that  he  would 
have  reached  the  summit  of  professional  eminence,  and  have  become 
an  acknowledged  leader  before  any  court. 

Mr.  DAVIS  took  an  active  and  prominent  part  in  the  political  con 
tests  of  Kentucky  from  his  earliest  manhood.  Always  an  ardent 
Whig,  and  frequently  the  selected  standard-bearer  of  his  party  in  its 
most  excited  struggles,  his  clarion  voice  rang  throughout  the  Com 
monwealth  in  defense  of  the  principles  of  that  patriotic  and  gallant 
organization.  He  was  the  trusted  and  tried  friend  of  Henry  Clay, 
and  enjoyed,  to  a  pre-eminent  degree,  his  confidence  and  regard. 

He  represented  Bourbon  County  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  of  Kentucky  for  many  years.  Always  conservative  in 


6  REMARKS    BY    MR.    STEVENSON    ON    THE 

his  views,  he  took  a  prominent  and  successful  part  in  shaping  the 
legislation  of  the  State.  For  eight  consecutive  years,  he  was  chosen 
over  able  and  distinguished  competitors,  by  the  electors  of  the  Ash 
land  district,  their  representative  to  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States,  and  then  voluntarily  retired.  The  debates  in  that 
body  during  that  period  attest  his  power  and  strength  as  a  ready  and 
skillful  debater. 

He  was  nominated  as  lieutenant-governor  on  the  gubernatorial 
ticket  with  John  J.  Crittenden,  but  at  his  earnest  request  was  excused 
by  the  convention. 

In  1 86 1,  amid  perils  and  dangers  of  a  revolutionary  struggle,  he 
was  elected  as  an  old-line  Union  Whig,  to  succeed  John  C.  Breck- 
inridge  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  He  was  the  strong  op 
ponent  of  secession,  and  was  at  the  period  of  his  election  an  earnest 
advocate  for  the  rigid  prosecution  of  the  war  to  restore  the  Union. 

In  1867  he  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate,  a  proud  tribute  to  his 
fidelity  and  zeal  in  upholding  the  honor  and  guarding  the  interests  of 
his  State.  Had  he  lived,  his  senatorial  term  would  have  expired  on 
the  3d  of  March,  1873. 

Mr.  DAVIS  and  myself,  until  some  time  after  the  commencement  of 
the  late  war,  had  been  always  political  opponents.  We  had  both 
been  reared  in  opposing  political  schools,  and  differed  widely  in  our 
views  as  to  the  powers  and  policy  of  the  Federal  Government.  Still 
we  were  warm  friends.  I  became  associated  with  him  in  the  public  serv 
ice  for  the  first  time  in  October,  1849.  He,  my  present  colleague,  and 
myself  met  as  members  of  the  convention  which  framed  and  adopted 
the  present  constitution  of  Kentucky.  It  was  at  that  period,  in  a 
daily  intercourse  of  several  months,  that  I  formed  an  opinion  of 
GARRETT  DAVIS  which  I  have  never  had  occasion  to  change.  I 
thought  then,  as  I  think  now,  that  he  was  a  strong  and  in  many  re 
spects  a  most  remarkable  man.  His  character  was  cast  in  a  mould 
of  striking  antagonisms.  Its  strong  element  rested  in  that  moral 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.       *J 

power,  which  brought  to  its  aid  a  concentrated  will  and  a  conscious 
rectitude  that  challenged  and  alike  defied  opposition.  His  heart  knew 
no  fear.  Popular  opinion  had  no  terror  for  him  in  the  advocacy  of 
measures  he  believed  to  be  right. 

I  recall  a  striking  incident:  During  the  session  of  our  constitutional 
convention,  Mr.  DAVIS,  at  that  time  a  sincere  advocate  of  the  princi 
ples  of  a  then  existing  political  organization,  known  as  the  American 
party,  introduced  into  that  body  a  series  of  resolutions,  proposing,  by 
constitutional  enactments,  to  exclude  from  the  right  to  hold  office,  in 
the  future,  all  Roman  Catholics,  and  requiring  on  the  part  of  all 
foreign-born  citizens  a  residence  of  twenty-one  years  as  a  prerequi 
site  on  their  part  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  right  of  suffrage. 

The  resolutions  were  opposed  with  singular  unanimity  by  four- 
fifths  of  the  convention,  and  by  none  more  sternly  than  by  myself. 
I  know,  or  rather  I  have  good  reason  to  believe,  that  many  party 
friends  of  Mr.  DAVIS  went  to  him  privately  and  urged  their  with 
drawal.  They  insisted  that  his  advocacy  and  vote  for  the  proposed 
measures  would  not  only  lead  to  his  downfall,  but  bring  down  the 
party  with  him.  He  replied,  that  he  knew  no  party  call  when  his 
duty  commanded  him  to  serve  his  State  by  the  enactment  of  meas 
ures  he  believed  to  be  right.  For  several  days  he  stood  almost 
alone,  as  the  earnest,  bold,  and  fearless  advocate  of  his  resolutions, 
repelling  every  assault,  and  supporting  them  with  a  zeal  I  have  rarely 
seen  surpassed.  Out  of  the  body,  composed  of  one  hundred  mem 
bers,  my  recollection  now  is,  that  his  proposition  received,  on  the  call 
of  the  ayes  and  noes,  but  seven  votes  besides  his  own.  Still  he  be 
lieved  himself  right,  and  his  spirit  never  quailed  before  any  majority. 

Senators,  another  high  quality  of  the  dead  statesman  was,  his  innate 
desire  to  be  right  in  all  that  he  said  and  in  all  that  he  did  in  this  Cham 
ber.  Pride  and  self-consistency  always  gave  way,  by  prompt  acknowl 
edgment,  whenever  he  believed  himself  wrong  in  speech  or  vote. 

I  have  before  me  a  striking  illustration:  On  the  i8th  day  of  May, 


8  REMARKS    BY    MR.     STEVENSON    ON    THE 

1871,  while  we  were  discussing  a  violation  of  the  rules  of  the 
Senate  by  an  improper  promulgation  of  the  then  recently  negotiated 
treaty  with  Great  Britain,  Mr.  DAVIS  took  an  active  part,  as  you  all 
remember,  in  that  debate.  He  made  an  able  and  lengthy  speech 
on  some  of  the  questions  involved.  A  few  days  afterward  he  came 
to  my  chair  and  said,  "  I  wish  to  see  you."  We  retired  into  the 
cloak-room,  as  I  remember,  when  he  said,  "  Do  you  think  my  argu 
ment  consistent  and  sound  ?"  I  said,  "  I  do  not."  Said  he,  "  I  do 
not,  either."  And  what,  sir,  did  he  do?  I  read  from  the  Globe 
what  then  occurred: 

"Mr.  DAVIS,  of  Kentucky.  Mr.  President:  In  the  remarks  that  I 
submitted  to  the  Senate  some  time  since,  I  assumed  the  position  that 
if  a  Senator  received  from  the  State  Department  or  from  any  other 
source  a  copy  of  the  treaty,  and  after  the  Senate  had  received  the 
treaty  from  the  Executive,  communicated  that  State  Department 
copy,  it  would  not  be  a  violation  of  the  secrecy  of  the  Senate.  I 
have  further  considered  that  position,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is 
erroneous,  and  I  finally  withdraw  from  it."  [Congressional  Globe, 
part  2,  Forty '-second  Congress,  first  session,  page  876.] 

The  traits  in  Mr.  DAVIS'S  character  made  a  strong  impress  on 
friends  and  foes  alike.  He  was  positive,  bold,  and  impassioned.  He 
could  do  nothing  by  halves.  Often,  very  often,  erroneous,  he  did  in 
justice  occasionally  both  to  friends  and  foes.  He  possessed,  however, 
that  higher,  godlike  attribute,  a  generous  magnanimity  to  acknowledge 
his  wrong  and  publicly  to  make  a  ready  and  prompt  amende, 

Senators,  for  almost  twelve  years  he  was  your  constant  associate 
in  this  Chamber.  His  service  for  a  greater  portion  of  that  time  was 
in  a  very  small  political  minority.  Constitutional  questions,  novel 
and  startling  in  their  character,  deemed  dangerous  to  constitutional 
liberty,  have  during  his  term  been  discussed  and  adopted._  Was 
GARRETT  DAVIS  ever  silent  when  duty  prompted  him  to  speak? 
Did  he  ever  quail  before  the  power  of  an  overwhelming  political 
majority  in  this  Senate-Chamber?  Amid  your  bitterest  party  con- 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  9 

tests  of  the  past,  was  his  honesty  ever  impeached,  or  his  spotless 
purity  of  character  ever  questioned? 

His  bold  and  fearless  denunciations  of  contemplated  usurpations 
may  have  offended  you;  his  constant  and  unceasing  appeals  to  the 
Constitution  may  have  wearied  you;  sharp  and  bitter  words,  uttered 
by  him  in  the  heat  of  debate,  may  have  wounded  you;  but  is  there 
one  Senator  in  this  Chamber  who  will  not  willingly,  in  despite  of 
the  past,  say  that  GARRETT  DAVIS  was  a  pure,  fearless,  honest 
patriot?  What  higher  tribute  could  human  ambition  desire?  What 
higher  praise  could  human  statesmanship  deserve  ? 

My  late  honored  and  lamented  colleague  sleeps  amid  the  blue- 
grass  of  his  own  native  Commonwealth,  in  sight  of  his  home,  by  the 
side  of  loved  ones  who  have  gone  before  him.  Senators,  soon,  one 
by  one,  each  of  us  will  successively  follow  him  through  that  dark 
valley  through  whose  gloom  he  has  now  passed. 

Should  not  this  impressive  scene  admonish  us  of  our  mortality  ? 
Shall  it  not  check  the  acerbity  of  feeling  which  sometimes,  amid  the 
excitement  of  our  debates,  escapes  us  ?  I  trust  it  may  awaken  in  the 
heart  of  each  and  all  of  us  greater  respect  for  those  who  feel  them 
selves  constrained,  upon  public  questions  upon  which  we  are  called 
on  to  act,  to  differ  from  one  another.  Sad  dispensations  are 
hourly  bringing  their  instructive  lesson,  that  we  must  soon  pass 
away.  "The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave."  No  honors,  no 
distinction,  no  wealth  can  stay  the  power  of  death. 

But  yesterday,  amid  the  excitement  of  an  excited  political  presi 
dential  contest,  the  image  of  one  man  was  before  all  eyes,  and  his 
name  was  lisped  on  every  tongue.  Full  of  hope,  full  of  expectation, 
his  heart  beat  high  for  presidential  honors.  Where  is  he  now  ?  Like 
my  departed  colleague,  he  sleeps  in  a  new-made  grave,  and  all  that 
was  mortal  of  Horace  Greeley  mingles  with  its  kindred  dust.  So  it 
has  been  ;  so  it  is ;  so  it  will  ever  be,  until  the  "  sea  and  graves  give 
up  their  dead." 


IO  REMARKS    BY    MR.    VICKERS    ON    THE 

But  there  is  a  brighter  home  beyond  the  grave,  prepared  and  ready 
for  all  who  trust  in  God,  and  who  are  willing  to  accept  the  mediation 
of  His  Son.  There  the  loved  ones  who  have  passed  over  the  river, 
shall  be  re-united  in  a  communion  never  to  be  broken,  and  all  that 
communion  will  be  love. 

I  beg  leave,  Mr.  President,  in  conclusion,  to  offer  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  That  the  Senate  has  learned  with  feelings  of  profound 
regret  that  Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  late  a  Senator  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  from  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  departed 
this  life  at  his  residence  near  Paris,  in  that  State,  on  22d  September, 
1872,  during  the  recess  of  this  body. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  DAVIS  the  country  has  lost  a 
citizen  eminent  for  his  public  and  private  virtues,  a  statesman  of  the 
purest  patriotism,  a  Senator  of  ability  and  worth,  and  that  his  death 
is  deplored  by  the  whole  country. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  testimonial  of  our  respect  for  the  memory  of 
the  deceased,  the  members  and  officers  of  the  Senate  will  wear  the 
usual  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  the  proceedings  of  Congress  upon  the  announce 
ment  of  the  death  of  Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS  be  communicated  by  the 
Secretary  to  the  family  of  the  deceased. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  the  Senate  do  now  adjourn. 


REMARKS   BY  ^VLn.   DICKERS,  OF  ^MARYLAND. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  This  occasion  is  one  of  melancholy  interest  to  us, 
who  in  our  feeble  way  attempt  to  pay  the  tribute  of  our  homage  to 
the  character,  worth,  and  services  of  a  distinguished  member  of 
this  body,  who  but  recently  graced  one  of  our  seats  and  held  pleasant 
converse  with  us. 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  I  I 

When  I  entered  the  Senate,  I  met  the  friendly  greeting  of  the  sage 
of  Kentucky,  a  gallant  State,  which  he  delighted  to  honor,  and  whose 
interest  and  fame  it  was  his  pleasure  to  protect  and  promote.  I  list 
ened  with  growing  interest  to  the  debates  of  Senators,  and  especially 
to  those  of  Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  the  contemporary  and  devoted  friend 
of  the  immortal  Clay.  His  long  public  service,  dignified  bearing, 
and  venerable  appearance  attracted  me,  and  impressed  me  with  the 
opinion  that  he  would  have  done  honor  to  the  Roman  senate  in 
the  palmy  days  of  that  republic.  To  say  that  I  lament  his  death  is 
but  faintly  to  express  the  emotions  of  my  heart.  We  have  lost  a 
most  illustrious  and  honorable  member,  a  sincere  friend,  a  sound 
lawyer,  an  able  statesman,  the  courteous  and  accomplished  gentle 
man. 

For  more  than  a  year  some  of  us  thought  that  we  perceived  a 
degree  of  failing  health  and  decline  in  our  deceased  associate. 
We  watched  the  progress  of  time  upon  him  with  much  feeling  and 
anxiety.  When  violently  attacked  by  disease,  before  the  termination 
of  the  last  session  of  the  Senate,  our  fears  were  aroused  for  his  safety, 
and  we  sought  the  morning  reports  of  his  condition  with  solicitude 
and  hope.  We  rejoiced  when  he  was  able  to  return  to  his  beloved 
State,  and  when  we  subsequently  learned  that  the  genial  influences 
and  associations  of  home  and  friends  had  restored  him  to  much 
stronger  and  almost  renewed  health ;  but  when,  in  September,  the 
telegraph  informed  us  of  his  death,  we  were  shocked  at  the  announce 
ment.  Although  we  knew  that  the  fatal  messenger  must  at  some 
period  come  to  him,  as  he  will  soon  appear  to  us,  yet  we  hoped  that 
his  arrow  would  longer  remain  in  his  quiver  and  his  visit  be  delayed. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  true  man,  and  a  type  of  the  nobler  attributes  of 
his  race ;  a  link  that  bound  the  glories  of  the  past  of  our  country  with 
the  melancholy  memories  of  the  present.  He  was  virtuous  from  a  love 
of  virtue,  and,  acting  on  the  maxim  that  nothing  was  impossible 
to  industry,  he  was  always  at  the  place  of  duty,  which  is  the  post  of 


12  REMARKS    BY    MR.    VICKERS    ON    THE 

honor.  He  attained  his  high  distinctions  in  the  service  and  councils 
of  his  country  by  the  practice  of  the  cardinal  virtues,  which  consti 
tute  the  road  to  elevation  and  to  fame. 

"Honor  is 

Virtue's  allowed  ascent :  honor  that  clasps 
All  perfect  justice  in  her  arms ;  that  craves 
No  more  respect  than  what  she  gives ;  that  does 
Nothing  but  what  she'll  suffer." 

In  temperament  he  was  quick,  ardent,  magnanimous ;  sincere  and 
frank  in  his  professions,  honest  in  his  convictions,  and  uncompromis 
ing  in  principle.  He  was  made  of  the  sterner  stuff  which  forms  the 
elements  of  character  of  the  honest,  the  fearless,  and  the  good.  Duty 
was  to  him  the  sublimest  and  dearest  object  of  life;  all  the  aspirations 
of  his  heart  and  the  severest  study  and  labor  of  his  life  were  to  per 
form  his  duty  with  ability  and  fidelity.  It  would  have  been  as  easy 
to  retard  the  sun  in  its  course,  as  to  swerve  him  from  the  faithful  dis 
charge  of  his  public  trust.  Neither  flattery  nor  censure  could  affect 
him;  and  he  was  insensible  to  fear,  except  that  of  a  failure  to  serve 
his  country  and  her  cause  with  the  efficiency  and  success  which  he 
desired.  Stern  and  inflexible  in  the  pursuit  and  defense  of  what  he 
believed  to  be  right,  he  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  accomplish  it. 
His  health  was  no  doubt  impaired  by  his  indefatigable  habits  of 
study  and  preparation  for  the  weighty  responsibilities  of  an  American 
Senator.  Office  was  no  sinecure  or  place  of  ease  to  him,  and  his 
examples  of  diligence,  toil,  and  perseverance  merit  our  highest  enco 
mium  and  imitation. 

If  there  ever  was  a  man  devoted  to  the  true  principles  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  rights  of  the  citizen,  he  was  that  man.  We  all  re 
member  with  what  fervency,  with  what  physical  and  mental  efforts  he 
entered  on  that  arena,  and  with  what  eloquence  he  stirred  our  souls 
and  enlisted  our  feelings  in  the  cause  of  constitutional  liberty  and 
the  principles  of  republican  government.  He  possessed  the  true 
principles  of  oratory;  for,  when  imbued  and  agitated  with  a  subject 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.      1 3 

and  fired  by  its  importance  and  objects,  he  spoke  with  impassioned 
force,  kindling  the  powers  of  the  mind  and  heart  to  a  pathos,  energy, 
and  boldness  which  aroused  and  animated  the  feelings  and  admira 
tion  of  his  hearers.  Some  of  his  perorations  were  specimens  of  pure 
and  enthusiastic  eloquence  that  would  honor  any  American  forum. 
While  he  accorded  all  necessary  powers  to  the  Federal  Government, 
he  maintained  with  zeal  the  reserved  rights  of  the  States.  He  had 
read,  studied,  and  observed  much ;  had  mastered  the  legitimate  ex 
positions  of  the  Constitution ;  had  drank  deep  at  the  fountain ;  and 
if  he  had  an  idol  upon  earth,  it  was  the  Constitution  as  interpreted 
by  the  fathers  and  administered  in  its  original  spirit  and  purity. 

Mr.  DAVIS  had  filled  various  places  of  trust  in  his  native  State  be 
fore  he  was  introduced  into  the  Halls  of  Congress:  he  had  been 
elected  four  times  to  the  House  and  twice  to  the  Senate ;  he  had  ac 
quired  extensive  experience  in  public  affairs  and  the  legislation  of  his 
country,  which  was  aided  by  his  practice  as  an  able  attorney  in  the 
State  and  Federal  courts. 

Aristides  was  not  more  just,  nor  governed  by  more  lofty  views  of 
moral  rectitude.  He  was  frank  and  firm  in  what  he  believed  to  be 
right,  and  would  not 

"  Have  flattered  Neptune  for  his  trident, 
Or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder." 

I  once  spoke  to  him  about  the  probable  animadversions  of  the 
press  upon  a  speech  which  he  had  made,  when  he  replied,  substan 
tially,  that  he  cared  not  for  publications,  as  he  had  determined  to  do 
his  duty  irrespective  of  censure  or  applause — a  noble  sentiment, 
worthy  of  the  most  eminent  patriotism,  and  which  could  only  come 
from  the  most  exalted  sense  of  conscious  integrity  of  purpose.  He 
was  unlike  some  men  of  celebrity,  who  appear  greater  in  distant  per 
spective,  which  hides  their  weaknesses  and  failings  from  public  view, 
but  when  brought  into  proximity  with  their  admirers  detract  from  the 
enchantment  of  the  picture  and  its  impress  upon  the  imagination. 

But  Mr.  DAVIS'S  mental  and  moral  proportions  will  suffer  no  dimi- 


14         REMARKS  BY  MR.  CAMERON  ON  THE 

nution  when  brought  into  close  and  familiar  connection.  He  was  a 
strong  man  in  will  and  intellect;  and  with  a  mind  enriched  by  the 
fruits  of  learning  and  experience,  he  never  compromised  his  dignity 
nor  lessened  the  prestige  which  his  reputation  had  secured.  He  was 
a  man  of  solid  character  and  attainments,  and  of  refined  tastes  and 
habits. 

The  loss  of  such  a  one  at  any  time  must  be  severely  felt;  but  at 
this  period  of  our  history,  when  we  are  almost  in  a  transition  state 
from  war  to  peace,  and  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  restoration,  the 
loss  is  more  sensible  and  intense.  We  shall  miss  him  in  council,  in 
debate,  in  the  social  circle,  in  personal  intercourse,  and  in  friendly 
relations.  Cicero  said,  "The  life  of  the  dead  is  placed  in  the  mem 
ory  of  the  living."  We  cherish  a  pride  that  we  knew  Mr.  DAVIS  so 
well;  that  he  served  his  country  faithfully;  that  no  taint  ever  attached 
to  his  name  while  living,  and  that  no  stain  can  ever  disfigure  the 
bright  escutcheon  of  his  memory  now  he  has  gone.  But  his  sun  has 
set — not  in  the  effulgence  of  noonday  life,  but  in  the  evening  calm 
and  stillness,  when  "coming  events"  signal  their  approach,  and  the 
luminous  yet  soft  and  mellow  tints  are  thrown  in  beauteous  rays  upon 
the  reflecting  sky. 

A  renowned  hero,  when  about  to  take  his  departure  from  earth, 
said,  "Let  us  cross  the  river  and  rest  under  the  shadows  of  the 
trees."  May  we  not  hope  that  our  deceased  friend  has  safely  passed 
the  river  of  life,  and  found  a  resting-place  among  the  trees  of  Para 
dise,  where  golden  fruits  are  gathered  and  enjoyed? 

We  who  survive,  and  on  whom  great  responsibilities  rest,  should 
learn  the  solemn  lesson  which  this  day  and  this  event  teach  us. 


REMARKS  BY  ^VLR.  PAMERON,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  The  tributes  paid  to-day  to  the  memory  of  the 
departed  Senator  from  Kentucky  awaken  in  my  heart  peculiar  mem- 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.      15 

cries.  More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  was  informed  that  a  lady,  trav 
eling  in  the  cars,  had  been  taken  suddenly  ill  while  passing  through 
the  village  in  which  I  then  lived.  She  was  taken  to  the  inn,  where 
she  was  forced  to  remain  for  weeks,  and  during  that  time  my  family 
ministered  to  her  comfort  until  her  recovery  was  complete.  The 
lady  was  Mrs.  Garrett  Davis.  "  And  from  that  time  dates  an  inti 
mate  friendship  between  Mr.  DAVIS  and  myself,  which  nothing  ever 
impaired  in  the  slightest  degree  while  he  lived.  During  the  long 
years  which  have  passed  over  me  since  then,  I  learned  to  know  and 
love  the  generous,  warm-hearted  gentleman,  the  honest  and  faithful 
friend,  whose  death  we  now  deplore.  Few  men  have  died  leaving 
behind  them  less  bitterness  or  less  cause  for  unpleasant  recollections. 
He  was  a  warm  friend  and  an  open  foe;  and  these  two  qualities  rate 
highly  in  my  estimation. 

Of  Mr.  DAVIS'S  public  life  only  one  thing  can  be  justly  said :  He 
was  always  true  to  his  convictions,  and  bold  in  their  advocacy.  In 
his  earlier  years  he  was  a  friend  and  disciple  of  Henry  Clay,  and  for 
many  years  the  State  which  gave  him  birth  honored  itself  by  electing 
him  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  he  played  an  honorable 
part  in  the  duties  of  his  position,  and  at  last  he  was  transferred  to 
this  body  to  represent  his  native  State. 

When  the  conspiracy  to  overthrow  our  Government  developed,  his 
patriotism  blazed  forth,  and  he  at  once  took  up  arms  to  maintain  the 
authority  of  the  laws  and  to  preserve  the  Union  he  revered ;  and  it 
was  only  when  the  great  revolution  of  emancipation  came  face  to 
face  with  the  country  that  he  cooled  in  his  reverence  and  love  of  the 
Federal  power.  Many  of  us  regretted,  and  still  regret,  that  he  did 
not  see  his  way  clear  to  support  that  just  and  great  measure.  But 
our  regret  was  mingled  with  sympathy  for  one  whose  education  and 
surroundings  made  it  next  to  impossible  for  him  to  see  clearly  through 
the  mist  and  darkness  of  early  prejudice  and  early  training.  Even 
in  his  opposition,  however,  the  nature  and  virtues  of  the  man  shone 


l6         REMARKS  BY  MR.  THURMAN  ON  THE 

clearly.  Being  convinced  that  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  was 
wrong,  he  opposed  it,  and  all  legislation  flowing  from  it,  with  an 
honest  intensity  which  made  those  who  regretted  his  course  admire 
his  straightforward,  manly  conduct,  and  while  many  disagreed  with 
him  all  respected  him.  He  was  a  frank,  free-hearted  gentleman, 
fulfilling  all  the  duties  of  life  with  conscientious  fidelity,  and  leaving 
behind  him  the  fame  of  an  industrious  public  servant  and  a  thor 
oughly  honest  man. 

With  a  heart  full  of  sorrow  for  the  friend  of  my  earlier  days,  and 
the  colleague  of  my  age,  I  have  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  mingle  a  few 
rugged  but  honest  words  in  his  honor  and  to  his  memory. 


REMARKS  BY    MR.   THURMAN,  OF    OHIO. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  knew  Mr.  DAVIS  well.  My  acquaintance  with 
him  commenced  twenty-seven  years  ago,  when  we  were  members  of 
the  House  of  Representatives.  He  was  a  man  of  uncommon  force 
of  mind,  earnestness  of  purpose,  industry,  purity,  and  courage.  He 
had  very  lofty  sentiments  of  honor,  virtue,  and  patriotism,  and  he 
strove  to  approach,  as  nearly  as  possible,  to  his  high  ideal.  Of  a 
quick  and  nervous  temperament,  he  sometimes,  in  the  heat  of  speech, 
gave  offense;  but  no  man  that  I  ever  knew  was  more  ready  than  he 
to  make  reparation  when  he  saw  that  he  had  erred.  He  never  meant 
to  be  unjust,  and  it  was  only  necessary  to  convince  him  that  he  had 
been,  to  draw  from  him  the  amplest  atonement.  He  was  a  ready 
and  powerful  debater,  speaking  frequently,  from  the  fullness  of  a  well- 
stored  mind,  in  order  to  discharge  what  he  deemed  to  be  his  duty, 
and  never  to  gratify  a  feeling  of  personal  vanity ;  and  few  men, 
however  well  informed,  ever  listened  to  him  without  deriving  instruc 
tion  from  what  he  said.  He  had  a  profound  love  for  his  country  and 
for  the  original  Constitution.  His  admiration  of  that  instrument  was 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARKETT    DAVIS.  I  7 

almost  without  limit.  He  considered  it  the  wisest  constitution  of 
government  ever  ordained,  and  he  never  could  regard  what  he 
thought  a  violation  of  it  without  real  pain  and  suffering. 

At  the  bar  he  occupied  a  prominent  place.  Next  to  constitutional 
law,  the  common  law  seemed  to  me  to  be  his  favorite  study ;  and  he 
possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  qualities  that  make  the  successful 
practitioner.  By  his  death  the  country  has  lost  an  able  and  experi 
enced  statesman,  the  law  a  learned  and  industrious  advocate,  and  a 
large  circle  of  acquaintances  a  true  and  valued  friend. 


REMARKS   BY  yViR.   ^UMNER,  OF  ^MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  when,  in  1861,  our 
departed  Senator  entered  it,  and  I  was  to  the  end  the  daily  witness 
of  his  laborious  service.  Standing  now  at  his  funeral,  it  is  easy  to 
forget  the  differences  between  us  and  remember  those  things  in  which 
he  was  an  example  to  all. 

Death  has  its  companionship.  In  its  recent  autumn  harvest  were 
GARRETT  DAVIS,  William  H.  Seward,  and  Horace  Greeley.  Seward 
was  the  precise  contemporary  of  DAVIS,  each  beginning  life  with  the 
century  and  dying  within  a  few  days  of  each  other.  Always  alike 
in  constancy  of  labor,  they  were  for  a  larger  part  of  this  period  asso 
ciated  in  political  sentiment  as  active  members  of  the  old  Whig  party. 
But  the  terrible  question  of  slavery  rose  to  divide  them.  How  com 
pletely  they  were  on  opposite  sides  I  need  not  say.  Horace  Greeley 
was  ten  years  the  junior,  but  he  was  the  colleague  and  peer  of  GARRETT 
DAVIS  in  devotion  to  Henry  Clay.  In  the  whole  country,  among  all 
whose  enthusiastic  support  he  aroused,  there  was  no  one  who  upheld 
the  Kentucky  statesman  with  more  chivalrous  devotion  than  these 
two.  Here  they  were  alike,  and  in  the  record  of  life  this  signal  fidel 
ity  cannot  be  forgotten.  It  was  to  the  honor  of  Henry  Clay  that  he 


l8        REMARKS  BY  MR.  SUMNER  ON  THE 

inspired  this  sentiment  in  such  men,  and  it  was  to  their  honor  that 
they  maintained  it  so  truly.  Kindred  to  truth  is  fidelity. 

At  his  death,  GARRETT  DAVIS  was  our  congressional  senior,  having 
entered  the  other  House  as  early  as  1839,  after  previous  service  of  six 
years  in  the  legislature  of  Kentucky.  For  eight  years  he  sat  as  Rep 
resentative,  and  then,  after  an  interval  of  thirteen  years,  he  was  for 
nearly  twelve  years  Senator.  During  this  long  period  he  was  con 
spicuous  before  the  country,  dwelling  constantly  in  the  public  eye. 
How  well  he  stood  the  gaze,  whether  of  friend  or  foe,  belongs  to  his 
good  name. 

All  who  knew  him  in  the  Senate  will  bear  witness  to  his  wonderful 
industry,  his  perfect  probity,  and  the  personal  purity  of  his  life.  No 
differences  of  opinion  can  obscure  the  fame  of  these  qualities  or  keep 
them  from  being  a  delight  to  his  friends  and  an  example  to  his  coun 
try.  Nor  can  any  of  us  forget  how,  amid  peculiar  trials,  he  was 
courageous  in  devotion  to  the  National  Union.  No  pressure,  no 
appeal,  no  temptation,  could  sway  him  in  this  patriotic  allegiance. 
That  fidelity  which  belonged  to  his  nature  shone  here  as  elsewhere. 
He  was  no  holiday  Senator,  cultivating  pleasure  rather  than  duty,  and 
he  was  above  all  suspicion  in  personal  conduct.  Calumny  could  not 
reach  him.  Nothing  is  so  fierce  and  unreasoning  as  the  enmities 
engendered  by  political  antagonists;  but  even  these  never  questioned 
that  he  was  at  all  times  incorruptible  and  pure.  Let  this  be  spoken 
in  his  honor;  let  it  be  written  on  his  monument.  Nor  can  the  State 
that  gave  him  to  the  national  service  and  trusted  him  so  long  fail  to 
remember  with  pride  that  he  was  always  an  honest  man. 

With  this  completeness  of  integrity  there  was  a  certain  wild  inde 
pendence  and  intensity  of  nature  which  made  him  unaccommodating 
and  irrepressible.  Faithful,  constant,  devoted,  indefatigable,  implac 
able,  he  knew  not  how  to  capitulate.  Dr.  Johnson,  who  liked  "  a 
good  hater,"  would  have  welcomed  him  into  this  questionable  fellow 
ship.  Here  I  cannot  doubt.  Better  far  the  opposite  character,  and 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  IQ 

even  the  errors  that  may  come  from  it.  Kindred  to  hate  is  prejudice, 
which  was  too  often  active  in  him,  seeming  at  times,  especially  where 
we  differed  from  him,  to  take  the  place  of  reason.  On  nothing  was 
this  so  marked  as  slavery.  Here  his  convictions  were  undisguised ; 
nor  did  they  yield  to  argument  or  the  logic  of  events.  How  much 
of  valuable  time,  learned  research,  and  intellectual  effort  he  bestowed 
in  support  of  this  dying  cause,  the  chronicles  of  the  Senate  attest. 
Ho\v  often  have  we  listened  with  pain  to  this  advocacy,  regretting 
deeply  that  the  gifts  he  possessed,  and  especially  his  sterling  character, 
were  enlisted  where  our  sympathies  could  not  go.  And  yet  I  cannot 
doubt  that  others  would  testify,  as  I  now  do,  that  never  on  these 
occasions,  when  the  soul  was  tried  in  its  depths,  did  any  fail  to  recog 
nize  the  simplicity  and  integrity  of  his  nature.  Had  he  been  less  hon 
est  I  should  have  felt  his  speeches  less.  Happily  that  great  con 
troversy  is  ended ;  nor  do  I  say  anything  but  the  strict  truth  when  I 
add  that  now  we  bury  him  who  spoke  last  for  slavery. 

Time  is  teacher  and  reconciler;  nor  is  it  easy  for  any  candid 
nature  to  preserve  a  constant  austerity  of  judgment  toward  persons. 
As  evening  approaches,  the  meridian  heats  lose  their  intensity.  While 
abiding  firmly  in  the  truth  as  we  saw  it,  there  may  be  charity  and 
consideration  for  those  who  did  not  see  it  as  we  saw  it.  A  French 
statesman  yet  living,  whose  name  is  indissolubly  connected  with  the 
highest  literature,  as  well  as  some  of  the  most  important  events  of 
his  age,  teaches  how  with  the  passage  of  life  the  judgment  is  softened 
toward  others.  "The  more,"  says  M.  Guizot,  "I  have  penetrated 
into  an  understanding  and  experience  of  things,  of  men,  and  of  my 
self,  the  more  I  have  perceived  at  the  same  time  my  general  convic 
tions  strengthen  and  my  personal  impressions  become  calm  and  mild. 
Equity,  I  will  not  say  toleration  for  the  faith  of  others,  in  religion  or 
politics,  has  come  to  take  place  and  grow  by  the  side  of  tranquillity 
in  my  own  faith.  It  is  youth,  with  its  natural  ignorance  and  passion 
ate  prejudices,  which  renders  us  exclusive  and  biting  in  our  judgments 


2O          REMARKS  BY  MR.  BAYARD  ON  THE 

of  others.  In  proportion  as  I  quit  myself,  and  as  time  sweeps  me  far 
from  our  combats,  I  enter  without  difficulty  into  a  serene  and  pleasant 
appreciation  of  ideas  and  sentiments  which  do  not  belong  to  me." 
Even  if  not  adopting  these  words  completely,  all  will  confess  their 
beauty. 

Here  let  me  be  frank.  Nothing  could  make  any  speech  for 
slavery  tolerable  to  me ;  but  when  I  think  how  much  opinions  are 
determined  by  the  influences  about  us,  so  that  a  change  of  birth  and 
education  might  have  made  the  abolitionist  a  partisan  of  slavery  and 
the  partisan  of  slavery  an  abolitionist,  I  feel  that,  while  always  unre 
lenting  toward  the  wrong,  we  cannot  be  insensible  to  individual  merits. 
In  this  spirit  I  offer  a  sincere  tribute  to  a  departed  Senator  who,  amid 
the  perturbations  of  the  times,  trod  his  way  with  independent  step, 
and  won  even  from  opponents  the  palm  of  character. 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  BAYARD,  OF  DELAWARE. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  My  personal  associations  with  our  late  friend,  the 
deceased  Senator  from  Kentucky,  date  but  a  comparatively  few  years 
back ;  and  in  view  of  the  just  eulogy,  and  full,  interesting,  and  dis 
criminating  sketch  of  his  career  by  his  distinguished  colleague,  to 
which  we  have  just  listened,  approved  as  it  has  been  alike  by  those 
who  were  his  party  allies  and  opponents  in  this  Chamber,  I  might 
well  hesitate  to  detain  the  Senate  by  any  reference  to  the  short  period 
covered  by  my  personal  acquaintance.  But  that  period,  although 
short,  has  been  full  of  occurrences  deeply  significant  and  important 
in  the  history  of  our  country,  and  the  part  borne  by  Mr.  DAVIS  so 
useful  to  his  fellow-countrymen  as  well  as  honorable  to  his  name 
and  memory,  that  I  conceive  it  proper  upon  this  sad  occasion  to 
make  brief  mention  of  it. 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  'Z  I 

No  period  in  the  political  history  of  the  United  States  has  been 
more  pregnant  with  the  spirit  of  transition  and  change  (not  to  say 
revolution)  than  the  past  four  years;  and  measures  of  the  gravest 
and  most  far-reaching  influence,  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  our 
system  of  government,  have  been  under  consideration,  and,  for  better 
or  for  worse,  incorporated  with  our  institutions.  Not  upon  this  occa 
sion,  sir,  do  I  propose  to  discuss  the  benefit,  or  the  contrary,  to  this 
Union  of  States,  or  their  people,  of  these  profound  alterations  in  our 
political  structure.  Behind  the  veil  of  the  future  and  in  the  verdict 
of  a  later  generation  must  be  found  the  truer  answer.  But  when  the 
actors  of  the  period  to  which  I  have  referred  come  to  be  reviewed, 
and  the  several  responsibilities  of  each  to  be  considered  and  adjudged, 
I  am  among  those  who  believe  that  the  fame  of  GARRETT  DAVIS,  of 
Kentucky,  will  gain  an  increased  luster  when  the  record  of  his  earnest, 
able,  unflinching,  and  so  often  eloquent  efforts  in  this  Chamber,  in 
favor  of  fixing  and  retaining  constitutional  limitations  upon  govern 
mental  powers,  shall  be  read  and  appreciated. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  an  experienced  statesman,  an  able  constitutional 
and  common  lawyer,  and  high  as  was  his  intellectual  rank,  still  higher 
was  his  moral  grade  of  thought  and  action.  He  loved  truth  for  her 
own  sweet  sake,  and  the  personal  intrepidity  which  so  characterized 
the  man  never  permitted  him  to  wander  from  her  paths.  His  good 
faith  was  kept  alike  with  friend  and  foe,  and  so  clear  was  he  in 
office  as  to  be  not  only  uncharged  with  moral  delinquency,  but  even 
by  his  worst  foe  unsuspected. 

Who  would  willingly  forget  the  high  and  genial  courtesy  which 
so  marked  his  friendly  intercourse  ?  And  however  prompt  was  his 
recognition  and  immediate  his  response  to  anything  that  savored  of 
defiance,  equally  ready  was  he  to  yield  to  the  softer  touches  of  recon 
ciliation. 

Mr.  DAVIS'S  intellectual  vigor  was  constantly  outrunning  his  phys 
ical  powers,  and  sitting  at  his  side  in  the  Senate-Chamber  I  was  fre- 


22        REMARKS  BY  MR.  TRUMBULL  ON  THE 

quently  made  aware  of  the  painful  conditions  under  which  his  duties 
were  performed.      His  was — 

"A  fiery  soul,  which,  working  out  its  way, 
Fretted  the  pigmy  body  to  decay, 
And  o'er-informed  the  tenement  of  clay." 

And,  now,  Mr.  President,  in  the  hurried  march  of  events  in  this 
Chamber,  the  scene  of  busy  government,  is  it  not  well  that  we  should 
pause,  and  reflect  how  far  the  moral  life  of  a  man  exceeds  in  its  in 
fluence  and  its  importance  his  highest  mental  results,  and  that  in  our 
struggles  here  this  great  truth  should  not  be  forgotten — -post  funera 
virtus  ? 


REMARKS  BY    MR.   TRUMBULL,  OF  JLLINOIS 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  :  This  is  the  twenty-second  time  since  I  have  been 
a  member  that  the  Senate  has  suspended  its  ordinary  business  to  pay 
a  tribute  of  respect  to  a  deceased  brother;  and  of  the  fifty-eight 
Senators  in  this  body  when  I  entered  it,  more  than  half  have  gone 
to  their  final  account. 

Admonished  by  these  frequently  occurring  events  that  our  mortal 
feet  have  almost  reached  the  brink  where  all  distinctions  cease  and 
human  aspirations  are  at  an  end,  how  vain,  illusory,  and  insignifi 
cant  appear  the  ambitions,  and  rivalries,  and  positions  of  this  tran 
sitory  state!  If  the  hour  devoted  to  a  consideration  of  the  life  and 
character  of  our  deceased  associate  shall  serve  to  mollify  the  strifes 
and  animosities  so  often  engendered  in  this  Chamber,  and  the  better 
to  fit  us  to  walk  the  path  he  has  so  recently  trod,  it  will  not  have 
been  misspent. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  DAVIS  began  when  he  entered  the 
Senate,  at  the  commencement  of  the  late  civil  war.  He  came  here 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.     23 

an  ardent  Union  man.  We  had  none  more  so  among  us.  As  the 
war  progressed  he  became  dissatisfied  with  some  of  the  measures 
adopted  in  its  prosecution,  and  though  he  never  faltered  in  devotion 
to  his  country,  his  course  was  not  always  in  harmony  with  those 
controlling  its  affairs.  He  was  a  man  of  earnest  convictions  and 
fearless  in  their  expression.  There  was  a  time  near  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  soon  after,  when,  dissatisfied  with  some  of  the  measures  of 
the  Government,  he  occupied  much  time  in  expressing  his  oppo 
sition,  and  was  sometimes  regarded  as  tedious  by  some  of  those 
favoring  the  measures  he  assailed;  but  who  can  blame  him  for  giv 
ing  full  expression  to  his  views  in  those  troublous  and  trying  times, 
when  the  wisest  and  most  patriotic  might  be  pardoned  for  mistakes  ? 
It  is  too  soon,  even  now,  to  determine  whether  impartial  history  may 
not  discover  that  the  measures  adopted  were  not  always  the  best 
which  could  have  been  devised  to  close  up  the  wounds  inflicted  by  a 
great  civil  war  and  restore  among  all  our  people  that  harmony  and 
social  intercourse  without  which  liberty  and  life  itself  are  scarcely 
worth  possessing.  During  the  later  years  of  his  service  in  the  Senate 
Mr.-  DAVIS  spoke  less  frequently  and  more  concisely.  His  knowledge 
of  public  affairs  and  of  the  history  of  the  Government  was  second 
to  that  of  no  one  in  the  Senate,  and  no  man  could  listen  to  him 
without  instruction  and  profit.  Although  he  had  attained  his  three 
score  years  when  I  first  knew  him,  he  retained  all  the  fire  and  vigor 
of  youth.  In  the  discharge  of  what  he  conceived  to  be  public  duty 
he  was  bold,  fearless,  and  aggressive.  In  private  intercourse  he  was 
courteous,  gentle,  and  obliging.  In  committee  and  in  the  transac 
tion  of  the  ordinary  business  of  the  Senate,  he  was  eminently  fair 
and  just. 

To  sum  up  his  character,  he  was  a  man  of  ardent  temperament, 
of  a  high  sense  of  honor,  of  earnest  convictions,  which  he  fearlessly 
proclaimed,  of  great  and  varied  information,  a  true  friend  to  his 
country,  and  an  honest  man. 


REMARKS    BY    MR.     MACHEN    ON    THE 


REMARKS  BY  yVLR.  ^AACHEN,  OF  J^ENTUCKY. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  The  insatiate  demands  of  the  great  enemy  of  the 
human  family  are  continually  presenting  occasions  for  sadness,  sor 
row,  and  mourning.  No  condition  in  life  can  evade  them.  All 
that  live  must  sooner  or  later  die.  No  panoply  with  which  we  may 
envelop  ourselves  will  shield  us  from  his  piercing  shaft.  Dust  must 
return  again  to  dust,  and  the  evidences  of  vigorous,  buoyant  life  ex 
hibited  to-day  in  this  honorable  body  will  be  exchanged  at  no  very 
distant  date,  personally  and  collectively,  for  the  pallid  cerements  of 
the  grave. 

Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS  was  doomed  as  all  others  are.  He  separated 
from  you  last  summer  in  feeble  health,  but  a  return  to  his  own  native 
hills  and  wide-spreading  lawns,  covered  with  the  most  beautiful  ver 
dure  upon  which  the  eye  of  man  has  ever  rested,  gave  promise  that 
soon  he  would  again  enjoy  the  physical  energy  and  health  of  which 
he  had  been  so  suddenly  deprived  in  your  midst.  Again  he  appeared 
at  the  bar,  his  favorite  forum  for  intellectual  combat,  but  it  was 
only  to  realize  that  the  enemy  had  been  foiled  and  not  defeated. 
Nature  gave  way,  and  on  the  226.  day  of  September  last  he  fell  an 
illustrious  victim  of  the  merciless  destroyer's  power. 

He  died  with  all  his  intellectual  faculties  in  noon-tide  refulgence, 
and  from  which  emanated  no  dim  or  uncertain  light.  Had  not  death 
interposed,  his  voice  would  to-day  have  been  heard  in  this  Hall 
sounding  the  notes  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  the  sunlight  of  his 
brilliant  genius  would  have  shone  on  the  legislative  deliberations  of 
the  closing  session  of  the  Forty-second  Congress. 

I  do  not  propose,  Mr.  President,  to  attempt  a  lengthened  eulogy 
of  Mr.  DAVIS.  It  was  not  my  privilege  to  have  had,  at  any  time, 
familiar  personal  acquaintance  with  him.  Politically  for  most  of  our 
lives  we  had  belonged  to  contending  parties — widely  separated  geo 
graphically,  more  widely  politically — he  an  old-line  Whig  and  I  a 
Democrat;  he  a  conspicuous  member  of  the  party  in  the  days  when 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.     25 

the  brilliant  genius  of  the  illustrious  Clay  marked  out  the  pathway  of 
that  long-honored  party,  and  I  but  a  private  in  the  ranks  of  that 
grand  old  army  marshaled  by  the  no  less  illustrious  Jackson. 

For  the  first  time  we  were  brought  personally  together  in  the  con 
stitutional  convention  of  Kentucky,  in  1849.  That  body  had  been 
chosen  not  so  much  from  general  political  associations  as  for  the  ac 
complishment  of  certain  reforms  in  our  organic  law,  and  although  the 
State  was  then  decidedly  Whig,  a  majority  of  that  body  was  Demo 
cratic.  While  general  politics  had  not  decided  the  character  of  the 
convention,  it  in  the  nature  of  things  resulted  that  they  did  to  some 
extent  control  our  associations ;  and  hence  I  was  not  even  then  very 
familiar  with  Mr.  DAVIS.  He  had  for  many  years  been  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  in  the  discussions  of  the  day,  both  in  that  body  and 
on  the  stump,  which  were  frequently  animated,  and  even  of  a  very 
angry  character,  had  borne  his  full  part.  In  my  limited  sphere  I 
had  also  taken  some  part  in  local  discussions,  and  animadversions 
upon  antagonists  were  common.  This  had  not  prepared  me  to  re 
gard  Mr.  DAVIS  with  an  impartial  judgment,  and  we  had  scarcely 
indulged  the  ordinary  courtesies  of  acquaintance  until  an  occasion 
presented,  as  I  conceived,  a  better  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  the  man 
than  the  political  arena  had  furnished.  I  was  then,  as  at  present, 
unknown  to  fame,  but  a  subject  of  interest  being  under  consideration 
in  the  convention,  took  occasion  to  join  in  the  debate,  and  upon  the 
conclusion  of  my  remarks  Mr.  DAVIS  arose  from  his  seat  on  the  op 
posite  side  of  the  hall  and  approached  me  with  a  pleasant  smile  and 
extended  hand,  congratulating  me  upon  the  effort  just  made,  and  ex 
pressing  a  wish  to  become  better  acquainted.  This  incident  devel 
oped,  as  I  thought,  a  trait  of  character  but  seldom  shown,  and  a  spirit 
perhaps  more  seldom  felt  by  those  engaged  in  the  excitements  of 
political  life,  and  I  could  but  feel  most  sensibly  that  I  had  neither 
known  nor  justly  appreciated  the  impulses  by  which  he  had  been 
moved. 


26          REMARKS  BY  MR.  MACHEN  ON  THE 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  devoted  friend  of  the  great  commoner,  Henry 
Clay,  was  his  intimate  associate,  and  shared  his  confidence  to  a  very 
great  extent;  and  though  not  his  equal  in  eloquence,  oratory,  or 
genius,  (as  how  few  were,)  was  a  strong  pillar  in  the  Whig  party — a 
man  of  very  decided  character,  great  perspicuity  of  thought,  nervous 
in  expression,  but  always  chaste  and  generally  classic  in  the  choice 
of  weapons  used  in  discussion.  As  a  patriot,  looking  with  undivided 
attachment  upon  his  country,  her  cause  was  his  cause,  her  preserva 
tion  his  grand  object,  and  right  or  wrong  she  was  his  country  and 
above  all  others.  In  the  maintenance  of  what  he  conceived  to  be 
her  interests  and  for  the  preservation  of  the  rights  of  the  people  un 
der  constitutional  government,  none  were  more  bold  or  determined. 
His  zeal  in  her  cause  has  occasionally  led  him  into  political  collisions 
of  a  very  heated  and  rather  intemperate  character;  and  yet  in  all 
these  the  distinctive  purpose  of  constitutional  preservation  has  been 
clearly  and  unmistakably  marked. 

Soon  after  the  late  civil  strife  had  commenced,  Mr.  DAVIS,  by  the 
Legislature  of  Kentucky,  was  sent  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
where  the  balance  of  his  life  was  spent.  Twice  indorsed  by  his  own 
State — once  under  circumstances  of  great  excitement,  and  a  second 
time  when  cool,  dispassionate  judgment  decided  upon  the  worth  of 
his  intellectual  services  to  the  State  and  country — he  died  full  of 
years  and  honors,  and,  like  the  mailed  warrior  of  old,  with  his  armor 
on,  and  I  doubt  not  to-day  is  reaping  the  reward  of  the  Christian 
soldier  made  perfect,  in  the  land  where  the  clangor  of  arms  will  no 
more  be  heard,  and  the  harmony  of  unbroken  peace  forever  reigns. 

Mr.  President,  I  cannot  say  that  even  very  often  I  have  thought 
Mr.  DAVIS  right  in  his  conclusions  as  to  national  policy.  We  rarely 
agreed  in  our  views  or  harmonized  in  action ;  but  I  can  say  with 
perfect  freedom  and  candor  that  I  believe  he  was  actuated  by  the 
purest  devotion  to  what  he  believed  to  be  the  interest  and  welfare  of 
our  country,  and  in  this  I  doubt  not  I  shall  have  the  hearty  accord 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.      2J 

of  all  this  honorable  body  with  whom  he  has  been  so  long  associated, 
and  by  whom  he  was  so  much  better  known  than  by  myself.  That 
he  was  without  faults  none  will  contend,  for  so  to  have  been  would 
have  been  above  mortality.  They  were,  however,  few,  and  none  of 
venal  character.  It  has  been  said  that — 

"The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them, 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones ;  " 

but  this  was  pagan  philosophy,  unenlightened  by  the  benignant  reign 
of  Christian  charity  and  civilization.  If  from  any  act  of  Mr.  DAVIS 
evil  resulted,  that  evil  is  or  will  soon  be  forgotten,  and  his  many  vir 
tues  will  be  highly  cherished  as  long  as  patriotism  has  an  advocate 
and  moral  boldness  an  admirer. 

The  Presiding  Officer,  (Mr.  Pomeroy  in  the  chair.)  The  question 
is  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted;  and  the  Senate  (at 
two  o'clock  and  thirty  minutes  p.  m.)  adjourned. 


PROCEEDINGS 

IN  THE 

HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES, 


A  message  from  the  Senate,  by  Mr.  McDonald,  its  chief  clerk, 
announced  that  he  was  directed  by  the  Senate  to  inform  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  death  of  Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  late  a  Senator 
of  the  United  States  from  the  State  of  Kentucky,  and  to  communi 
cate  to  the  House  of  Representatives  the  proceedings  of  the  Senate 
thereon. 


JlEMARKS    BY    J^fi.'R.    J3ECK,    OF    J^ENTUCKY. 

Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  Senator  from  Kentucky,  whose  death  has 
been  officially  announced  to  the  House,  died  at  his  home  in  Paris, 
Bourbon  County,  Kentucky,  on  the  22d  day  of  September,  1872, 
full  of  years  and  of  honors.  He  was  born  on  the  loth  day  of  Sep 
tember,  1 80 1,  in  Montgomery  County,  Kentucky.  His  term  of  life 
exceeded  the  threescore  years  and  ten  which  ordinarily  limit  human 
existence. 

He  had  filled  or  been  tendered  by  the  people  of  Kentucky  all  the 
high  positions  and  offices  they  had  to  bestow.  The  people  of  Bour 
bon  elected  him  for  three  consecutive  terms  as  their  representative 
in  the  State  Legislature,  in  the  years  1833,  1834,  and  1835,  and  the 
people  of  the  Ashland  district  sent  him  to  Congress  for  four  consecutive 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS. 


29 


terms,  beginning  with  the  Twenty-sixth  and  ending  with  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Congress.  Before  the  expiration  of  his  last  term  he  determined 
to  retire  to  private  life,  and  in  view  of  this  resolution  informed  a  friend 
of  the  late  Governor  C.  S.  Morehead  that  he  would  not  be  a  candi 
date  for  re-election.  After  he  had  made  this  communication  he  met 
Mr.  Clay,  who  inquired  of  him  if  he  intended  to  be  a  candidate,  and 
on  being  answered  in  the  negative,  Mr.  Clay  bore  testimony  to  his 
high  character  by  saying,  "You  have  an  extensive  acquaintance 
with  members  of  Congress  and  with  men  who  visit  Washington  City. 
The  national  convention  to  nominate  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency 
will  be  held  next  summer ;  I  have  confidence  in  your  fidelity,  and 
would  like  you  to  be  in  Washington  City,  and  a  member  of  Congress, 
to  look  after  my  interests."  Mr.  DAVIS  excused  himself  to  his  illus 
trious  friend  by  telling  him  of  his  pledge  to  Governor  Morehead. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  Ken 
tucky  in  1849,  and  continued  in  that  body  until  it  agreed  on  and 
signed  the  present  constitution  of  the  State;  but  his  objection  to  its 
principle  of  a  judiciary  elected  by  the  popular  vote  was  so  decided 
that  he  voted  against  it  and  refused  to  sign  it. 

He  was  tendered  the  nomination  of  the  Whig  party  for  lieutenant- 
governor  by  the  convention  which  nominated  Mr.  Crittenden  for 
governor,  and  was  informally  tendered  the  nomination  for  governor, 
which  Hon.  Charles  S.  Morehead  afterward  accepted;  but  he  declined 
both,  though  his  election  was  sure  if  he  had  made  the  race  for  either, 
as  subsequent  events  proved. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  first  elected  to  the  Senate  in  1861,  to  fill  the  unex- 
pired  term  of  General  Breckinridge,  and  was  re-elected  in  1867  for 
the  term  which  expires  March  4,  1873. 

The  simple  recital  of  these  facts  demonstrates  more  conclusively 
than  the  most  eloquent  words  the  confidence  his  people  had  in  him. 
He  lived  and  achieved  success  in  an  age  and  at  a  time  when  Ken 
tucky  had  among  her  sons  many  distinguished  men.  To  say  nothing 


REMARKS    BY    MR.    BECK    ON    THE 


of  those  who  yet  live,  Clay,  Crittenden,  Marshall,  the  WicklifFes, 
Morehead,  Powell,  and  a  host  of  others,  now  no  more,  were  his  com 
peers  ;  and  while  it  is  true  that  Kentucky  has  had  more  persuasive 
orators,  more  distinguished  jurists,  and  statesmen  of  more  extended 
reputation,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  combined  in  a  very  high  degree  all 
the  elements  necessary  to  attain  eminence  in  every  position  he  was 
called  to  fill. 

The  traits  of  character  which  specially  endeared  Mr.  DAVIS  to  the 
people  of  Kentucky,  and  made  him  the  recipient  of  the  highest 
honors  they  could  bestow,  were  his  honesty,  his  truthfulness,  and  his 
courage.  They  felt  that  no  stain  of  corruption  would  ever  be  placed 
on  the  escutcheon  of  the  Commonwealth  while  he  could  keep  it  pure 
and  undefiled.  They  knew  that,  while  he  was  impetuous  and  liable  to 
commit  errors,  he  would  honestly  confess  his  wrongs  and  correct  his 
mistakes  when  he  saw  them,  and  they  were  assured  beyond  all  perad- 
venture  that  he  would  resent,  if  need  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  for 
tune,  any  and  all  insults  and  indignities  to  his  State  or  people,  no  matter 
where,  when,  or  by  whom  they  were  offered.  In  short,  they  knew 
that  "  all  the  ends  he  aimed  at  were  his  country's,  his  God's,  and 
truth's;"  and  being  so  assured,  they  never  faltered  in  their  confidence 
in  or  devotion  to  him. 

His  faults,  follies,  or  vices,  call  them  what  you  will,  were  but  vir 
tues  exaggerated.  With  a  quick  temper,  a  strong  will,  and  a  clear 
perception  of  the  right  as  he  saw  and  understood  it,  he  was  impatient 
of  contradiction,  and  sometimes  failed  to  make  allowances  for  the 
opinions  and  conduct  of  those  who  differed  with  him,  which  a  man 
of  more  equable  temper  or  less  profound  convictions  would  have  done. 

The  country  will  not  soon  forget  the  zeal  with  which,  in  1862,  he 
prosecuted  his  resolutions  for  the  expulsion  of  his  colleague,  Hon. 
Lazarus  W.  Powell,  from  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  his 
manly  apology  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  when  he  became  satisfied 
that  he  had  done  him  injustice.  Nor  will  his  equally  bold  defense  of 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS. 


himself,  in  1864,  when  a  distinguished  Senator  sought  to  have  him 
expelled  for  resolutions  he  had  offered  against  the  then  Administra 
tion,  soon  be  forgotten,  while  all  who  knew  him  will  agree  that  he 
was  equally  sincere,  equally  true  to  his  own  convictions  of  duty, 
through  all  the  seeming  contradiction  of  his  positions. 

The  Legislature  of  Kentucky  paid  the  highest  possible  tribute  to 
him  by  returning  him  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  1867, 
though  a  majority  of  the  members  had  been  his  political  opponents. 
Their  act  was  the  tribute  of  brave  men  to  honesty,  fidelity,  and 
courage.  He  was  a  different  man  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of 
Kentucky  and  of  those  who  were  drawn  closely  to  him,  from  what 
he  appeared  to  strangers.  To  us  he  stood  on  the  foreground  of  the 
picture;  by  others  he  was  seen  only  in  the  dim  distance.  Conduct 
which  from  their  stand-point  appeared  unaccountable,  and  doubtless 
sometimes  wrong,  we  knew  was  prompted  by  the  highest  convictions 
of  duty  and  the  keenest  sense  of  honor.  Knowing  that,  the  people 
of  Kentucky  never  refused  him  any  position  he  desired. 

That  Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  lawyer  of  distinguished  ability,  as  well  as  a 
statesman  profoundly  versed  in  his  country's  history,  all  who  ever 
heard  him  speak  or  read  his  speeches  know.  Few  men  analyzed 
intricate  questions  more  clearly  or  presented  them  more  forcibly. 

I,  in  common  with  all  who  practiced  at  the  bar  with  him,  will  never 
forget  the  indefatigable  industry,  zeal,  and  research  which  characterized 
all  his  efforts.  The  wonder  was,  how  a  man  of  his  delicate  frame 
and  nervous  organization  could  endure  the  herculean  labor  he  per 
formed. 

I  will  not  take  time,  as  others  desire  to  be  heard,  to  speak  of  his 
private  life  further  than  to  say  that  he  was  a  model  gentleman  in  his 
social  intercourse.  Courteous  to  all,  temperate  in  all  his  appetites, 
unobtrusive,  yet  kind  and  genial,  his  was  a  life  worthy  of  imitation. 

He  died  in  the  midst  of  a  great  political  struggle,  which  aroused 
all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  nature,  and  it  may  be  that  his  labors  in  the 


REMARKS    BY    MR.    ARTHUR    ON    THE 


cause  he  espoused  shortened  his  days.  But  death  had  no  terrors 
for  him  if  life  had  to  be  prolonged  at  the  sacrifice  of  duty.  His 
remains  are  among  the  friends  he  loved;  his  grave  will  be  visited 
with  profound  respect  by  the  people  of  Kentucky;  and  it  may  be 
truthfully  said  of  him,  as  was  said  by  the  regent  of  Scotland  at  the 
grave  of  John  Knox,  "  There  lies  one  who  never  feared  the  face  of 
man." 


REMARKS   BY    MR.    ARTHUR,  OF   KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  man  of  great  individuality.  He 
was  pre-eminently  self-sustaining.  He  leaned  only  upon  himself.  As 
well  in  thought  as  in  feeling,  he  was  original,  bold,  and  pronounced. 
His  intellect,  his  integrity,  his  courage,  and  his  self-respect  were  im 
pregnable. 

Whether  in  a  legal  or  political  forum,  he  sounded  and  penetrated 
his  subject  with  a  masculine  comprehension;  he  intuitively  pierced 
its  center,  and  patiently  worked  his  way  to  the  open  day  upon  its 
border.  No  obstacles  deterred,  no  opposition  embarrassed,  no 
champion  alarmed  him.  His  strength,  his  ardor,  his  resources,  and 
his  intrepidity  were  greatest  when  most  resisted. 

Fiery,  impetuous,  and  daring  on  occasions,  he  was  in  deliberation 
luminous,  exact,  and  exhaustive.  Though  stern  and  unrelenting  as 
an  avenging  warrior  in  confronting  and  crushing  an  unworthy  antag 
onist,  his  was  the  delicacy  and  tenderness  of  woman  toward  all  the 
world  beside. 

His  love  for  his  country  was  comprehensive,  fervid,  and  inextin 
guishable.  Fixed  in  his  mind  were  all  the  philosophic  events  of  its 
discovery,  its  rise,  growth,  and  progress.  Throughout  his  long  and 
distinguished  career  he  never  ceased  to  be  an  unwearied,  discriminat 
ing,  and  enthusiastic  student,  expounder,  and  defender  of  our  Federal 
and  State  systems. 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS. 


33 


Than  that  in  which  he  lived,  no  era  in  the  circle  of  American  con 
stitutional  government  has  been  more  crowded  with  momentous  vicis 
situdes.  Throughout  all  he  was  an  observer  or  an  actor,  and  for  the 
most  part  both.  For  more  than  a  generation  past  he  had  been  prom 
inent  among  the  makers  of  political  history.  The  arches  and  columns 
of  this  illustrious  Capitol  are  his  monumental  witnesses.  In  the  line 
of  public  duty  he  beheld  rise  this  amazing  structure,  and  in  its  Halls, 
committee-rooms,  and  corridors,  for  his  country's  glory,  he  day  by 
day  spent  the  vigor  of  his  years. 

He  was  trained  and  practiced  in  at  once  the  highest  and  severest 
schools  of  American  statesmanship.  The  greatest  masters  of  juridical 
science  and  deliberative  eloquence  were  his  daily  companions,  and 
oftentimes  his  well-matched  antagonists.  Among  the  great  he  grew 
to  the  full  measure  of  his  stature. 

•  Co -extensive  with  the  annals  of  our  institutions  will  live  the  endur 
ing  evidences  of  his  industry,  his  learning,  his  ability,  his  eloquence, 
and  his  patriotism. 

If  fervently  he  loved  American  institutions,  with  equal  fervency 
did  he  love  American  people.  The  horizon  of  his  robust  affections 
encircled  the  whole  sisterhood  of  States,  and  rose  on  all  sides  to  the 
zenith  of  a  Union  equal,  impartial,  and  perpetual. 

With  all  this  Mr.  DAVIS  was  every  inch  a  Kentuckian.  He  excelled 
in  many  of  the  highest  attributes,  moral  and  intellectual,  of  the  people 
of  the  great  Commonwealth  which  cherished  and  honored  him  from 
his  cradle  to  his  grave.  In  his  indomitable  spirit,  in  his  stern  self- 
reliance,  in  his  exalted  aspirations  for  honorable  fame  in  the  public 
service,  in  his  tenacity  of  purpose,  in  his  magnanimity  and  integrity,  he 
was  eminently  a  representative  man  of  the  people  of  his  native  State. 

Generous  nature,  popular  devotion,  and  his  own  manly  heart  and 
unconquerable  mind  place  him  forever  in  line  with  the  great  states 
men  and  jurists,  now  no  more,  whose  peer  and  contemporary  he  was. 
Take  him  all  in  all,  there  are  few,  if  any,  such  men  left  in  our  day, 


34 


REMARKS    BY    MR.     WOOD    ON    THE 


and  his  name  and  fame  will  endure,  an  honorable  legacy  to  all  who 
shall  prove  worthy  to  survive  him. 


REMARKS   BY  yvlR.   WOOD,   OF  JJEW   YORK. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  To  me  this  occasion  has  melancholy  interest.  It 
revives  recollections  of  another  period.  It  recalls  memories  asso 
ciated  with  my  early  and  youthful  entrance  into  the  public  service. 
I  came  here  in  May,  1841,  as  a  member  of  the  Twenty-seventh 
Congress,  where  I  first  knew  GARRETT  DAVIS  as  a  Representative  from 
Kentucky.  I  was  frequently  associated  with  him  at  that  time  in  the 
discharge  of  official  duty.  Though  he  was  many  years  my  senior  in 
age,  and  of  a  different  political  party,  we  soon  became  friends  and 
companions.  Though  comparatively  a  young  man,  he  was  even 
then  a  prominent  and  influential  member  of  this  House.  His  pe 
culiar  personal  characteristics  were  already  strongly  developed.  He 
was  high-toned,  independent,  impulsive,  and  frank.  Though  the 
great  leader  of  his  party,  (Henry  Clay,)  then  a  Senator,  was  the  sole 
custodian  of  the  partisan  power  of  his  party  in  Congress,  yet  Mr. 
DAVIS  frequently  refused  to  carry  out  even  his  mandates,  or  to  bow 
with  submission  to  his  will.  With  him,  as  a  Representative,  the 
conscientious  discharge  of  duty  was  paramount  to  every  other  con 
sideration.  His  action  was  prompted  by  conviction,  and  his  convic 
tions  were  the  creations  of  a  well-ordered  mind,  greatly  strength 
ened  by  a  pure  and  manly  spirit.  Throughout  life  he  maintained 
the  same  elevated  standard.  Of  comprehensive  intellect,  of  generous 
impulses,  of  chivalrous  honor,  of  untarnished  private  and  public  life, 
he  has  gone  down  to  an  honored  grave  and  left  to  posterity  a  lovely 
and  bright  example. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  have  said  that  this  occasion  is  of  melancholy  inter 
est.  I  refer  not  only  to  the  individual  loss  we  have  met  with  in  the 
death  of  this  truly  great  and  good  man;  not  only  to  the  early  recol- 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS. 


35 


lections  revived  in  me  personally,  connected  with  my  own  entree  into 
this  House;  but  also  to  the  fact  that  one  more  link  is  broken  of  the 
chain  that  binds  this  generation  of  statesmen  to  that  which  has 
preceded  it;  that  one  by  one,  slowly  but  surely,  those  who  suc 
ceeded  those  who  created  our  Government  are  being  gathered  to 
their  fathers.  When  Mr.  DAVIS  entered  Congress  the  great  leaders  of 
public  opinion  were  Clay,  Webster,  Calhoun,  Benton,  and  Van  Buren. 
They  were  the  successors  to  Jefferson,  Adams,  Jackson,  and  Taney. 
The  three  generations  thus  personified  mark  the  three  epochs  of  our 
country,  each  prolific  of  the  very  highest  order  of  patriotism  and 
most  transcendent  ability.  Of  that  to  which  Mr.  DAVIS  belonged  in 
his  early  career,  already  but  few  remain.  Here  and  there  we  may 
yet  see  a  flickering  light;  but — 

' '  To-morrow,  and  to-morrow,  and  to-morrow 
Creeps  in  this  petty  pace  from  day  to  day, 
To  the  last  syllable  of  recorded  time; 
And  all  our  yesterdays  have  lighted  fools 
The  way  to  dusty  death." 

He  is  gone.  Peace  to  his  ashes!  May  his  example  be  followed 
in  all  that  is  ennobling  to  our  nature — in  his  purity  of  heart,  his 
earnest  devotion  to  his  country,  and  in  his  independent,  conscien 
tious,  and  manly  discharge  of  every  private  and  public  obligation  of 
life.  That  he  was  exempt  from  all  the  frailties  incident  to  humanity 
I  do  not  declare,  but  that  he  possessed  attributes  which  dignify 
public  stations  and  endear  us  to  each  other  I  do  declare,  and  chal 
lenge  fearlessly  a  well-founded  denial. 


REMARKS  BY    MR.   POLAND,  OF  VERMONT. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  will  detain  the  House  but  a  very  few  minutes  on 
this  occasion.  I  deem  it  proper  to  say  a  few  words  at  this  time  be 
cause  I  suppose  I  was  connected  officially  with  Mr.  DAVIS  at  a  later 
period  of  his  life,  perhaps,  than  was  any  other  member  upon  this  floor. 


36  REMARKS    BY    MR.    POLAND    ON    THE 

My  first  acquaintance  with  the  late  Mr.  DAVIS  was  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Thirty-ninth  Congress,  when  I  took  the  place  of  Judge  Colla- 
mer  in  the  Senate,  and  during  that  Congress  I  served  in  the  Senate 
with  Mr.  DAVIS.  There  had  been  a  peculiar  friendship  between  him 
and  Judge  Collamer,  my  predecessor  in  the  Senate.  They  had  been 
associated  for  a  number  of  years  as  members  of  this  House,  and  for 
a  considerable  number  of  years  they  had  been  associates  in  the  Sen 
ate.  There  was  a  very  warm  and  ardent  friendship  between  them. 
On  my  coming  to  the  Senate  to  take  the  place  of  Judge  Collamer, 
Mr.  DAVIS  seemed  to  transfer  his  friendship  for  Judge  Collamer  to 
myself;  and  during  my  period  of  service  there,  and  from  that  time 
to  the  time  of  his  death,  our  relations  were  very  friendly  indeed. 

After  I  left  the  Senate  and  came  to  this  House  we  were  associated 
as  regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  he  being  one  of  the  regents 
on  the  part  of  the  Senate  and  I  one  on  the  part  of  the  House.  In 
that  way  we  were  brought  into  intimate  association. 

I  had  known  of  Mr.  DAVIS  as  a  public  man,  and  of  his  reputation 
as  such,  before  I  became  personally  acquainted  with  him.  But  my 
views  of  the  man,  my  views  of  his  character,  were  mainly  derived 
from  my  association  with  him  in  the  Senate.  He  seemed  one  of 
the  most  industrious  and  laborious  men  in  that  body,  always  watch 
ful  and  attentive  to  every  duty.  He  was  a  man  of  large  attain 
ments,  especially  in  the  law  and  in  the  political  history  of  the  country. 
But  few  men  I  have  ever  met  were  better  versed  in  either  of  those 
branches  of  knowledge.  His  character  was  eminently  and  peculiarly 
conservative.  He  was  a  man  who  believed  earnestly  and  sincerely 
in  the  "wisdom  of  the  fathers."  Every  proposition  for  change  was 
distasteful  and  disagreeable  to  him,  and  he  came  very  slowly  to  the 
adoption  of  any  new  views. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  very  ardent  Union  man.  No  man  was  more  bit 
terly  opposed  to  secession  than  he  was ;  no  man  was  a  more  warm 
and  devoted  friend  of  the  Union.  The  result  of  the  war,  so  far  as  it 


[.IKE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  37 

resulted  in  the  overthrow  of  the  rebellion,  was  as  agreeable  to  him  as 
to  any  other  Union  man.  But  the  changes  in  the  form  of  the  Gov 
ernment,  the  constitutional  amendments,  the  acts  of  reconstruction, 
and  the  other  governmental  acts  which,  by  the  dominant  party  of 
the  country,  were  deemed  necessary  in  order  to  make  the  Government 
conform  to  the  altered  condition  of  things,  were  very  disagreeable  to 
him  and  very  repulsive  to  his  notions.  During  the  Thirty-ninth  Con 
gress  the  most  prominent  of  these  measures  were  before  the  Senate. 
Mr.  DAVIS  and  myself  were  diametrically  opposed  upon  them  all. 
We  were  educated  at  different  periods,  under  different  civilizations, 
and  our  views  of  what  was  proper  and  necessary  to  be  done  were 
utterly  diverse.  I  believe  that  in  every  single  instance,  upon  every 
measure  of  that  sort,  my  vote  was  upon  the  one  side  and  his  upon 
the  other. 

I  believe  then,  as  I  believe  now,  that  Mr.  DAVIS  was  as  honest  and 
sincere  in  his  views  as  I  was  in  mine.  I  believe  he  accorded  the 
same  sincerity  and  honesty  to  me,  and  our  warm  personal  relations 
were  not  in  the  slightest  degree  disturbed.  But,  as  I  have  said,  the 
social  and  political  changes  which  were  the  result  of  the  war  were 
very  disagreeable  to  him,  and  he  opposed  them  bravely  and  earnestly, 
and,  as  I  believe,  conscientiously,  though  sustained  only  by  a  hope 
less  minority.  And  so  in  all  public  duties  (so  far  as  I  had  any  means 
of  observation)  that  he  was  called  upon  to  perform,  he  was  as  firm 
and  true  to  his  convictions  of  duty,  according  to  his  idea  and  the  light 
that  was  in  him,  as  any  man  I  have  ever  known. 

For  purity  of  purpose,  for  patriotic  devotion  to  his  country,  for  fol 
lowing  bravely  what  he  believed  to  be  the  right,  he  has  set  an  example 
that  all  of  us  who  survive  him  may  well  follow. 


REMARKS  BY  ^VlR.  ^DAMS,  OF  KENTUCKY. 
Mr.  SPEAKER  :  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  attempt  a  eulogy  upon  the 


38  REMARKS    BY    MR.     ADAMS    ON    THE 

life  or  character  of  Mr.  DAVIS.  His  name  and  his  fame  are  forever 
secure,  not  only  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  his  own  State,  where 
he  was  so  well  known  and  so  universally  beloved,  but  also  in  the  pub 
lic  estimation  of  the  whole  country,  in  whose  councils  he  served  so 
long  and  in  which  he  acted  so  conspicuous  a  part.  And  even  if 
such  were  not  the  case,  his  private  life  and  public  career  have  already 
been  referred  to  in  fitting  terms  by  others  who  have  preceded  me,  and 
who  knew  him  longer  and  better  than  myself.  But,  sir,  I  will  be  par 
doned  for  desiring  upon  this  melancholy  occasion  to  pay  a  last  tribute 
of  respect  to  the  memory  of  one  for  whom  I  entertained  the  pro- 
foundest  respect,  for  whom  I  cherished  the  warmest  attachment. 

I  had  from  early  boyhood  heard  much  of  the  public  life  and  emi 
nent  services  of  Mr.  DAVIS,  but  it  was  not  my  good  fortune  to  know 
him  personally  until  the  summer  of  1867,  when,  upon  my  first  en 
trance  into  this  Hall,  I  met  him  here  in  this  city  in  his  official  ca 
pacity  as  a  Senator  from  the  State  of  Kentucky.  From  that  time 
forward  I  became  intimately  acquainted  with  Mr.  DAVIS,  and  had 
evidences  of  his  friendship  of  which  I  was  glad  to  be  assured  while 
he  lived,  and  which  it  is  a  pleasure  to  recall  now  that  he  is  gone. 

The  lineaments  of  Mr.  DAVIS'S  character  were  well  marked  and 
clearly  defined.  Endowed  by  nature  with  unusual  intellect,  pos 
sessed  of  indomitable  courage  and  an  inflexible  and  unyielding  will, 
he  was  a  man  of  intense  individuality  and  wonderful  self-reliance. 
When  his  opinions  were  once  formed,  no  opposition  could  deter,  no 
inducement  could  swerve  him  from  the  path  of  his  duty.  Upon  all 
public  questions  he  was  decided  and  emphatic  in  his  convictions. 
He  knew  no  middle  ground;  he  occupied  no  equivocal  position. 
In  the  earnestness  with  which  he  advocated  what  he  believed  to  be 
right,  and  the  severity  with  which  he  denounced  what  he  deemed  to 
be  wrong,  he  never  stopped  to  inquire  where  his  bolts  would  fall  or 
whom  his  arrows  would  pierce.  The  artifice  of  the  mere  politician 
and  the  duplicity  of  the  demagogue  he  utterly  and  thoroughly  de- 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS. 


39 


spisecl;  but  he  was  never  unmindful  of  the  courtesy  due  to  those  with 
whom  he  differed,  and  whatever  of  zeal  or  vehemence  he  manifested 
in  debate  arose  entirely  from  a  thorough  conviction  of  the  truth  and 
justness  of  his  cause. 

In  private  life  Mr.  DAVIS  was  a  kind,  gentle,  and  genial  com 
panion,  a  true  and  steadfast  friend,  an  honest  and  upright  man.  He 
had  his  faults,  but  they  were  of  the  nobler,  not  the  baser  kind.  There 
was  much  in  his  character  to  admire,  and  very  little  really  to  con 
demn.  The  prominent  characteristic  of  his  life,  however,  which  dis 
tinguished  him  above  all  others,  and  which  was  one  of  the  secrets  of 
his  great  success,  was  his  lofty  sense  of  public  virtue,  his  spotless  and 
irreproachable  integrity.  Against  him  even  the  tongue  of  calumny 
never  dared  to  whisper  a  breath  of  suspicion.  Through  all  his  pri 
vate  life  and  public  services  there  shines  the  luster  of  a  noble  and 
gifted  manhood,  a  fervent  and  undying  patriotism,  a  pure  and  unsul 
lied  name. 

But,  Mr.  Speaker,  he  is  gone,  and  in  his  death  his  State  has  lost 
one  of  its  most  illustrious  sons,  his  country  one  of  its  purest  and 
ablest  statesmen.  Such  was  the  man  whose  virtues  we  commemo 
rate  and  whose  loss  we  are  called  upon  to  mourn. 


REMARKS   BY    MR.   ^ANKS,   OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  The  ancient  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky  has  an  in 
teresting  and  memorable  record.  In  the  cluster  of  States  which  form 
the  Union  it  constitutes  the  connecting-link  between  the  republics  of 
the  constitutional  period  and  those  of  our  own  day  that  enrich  the 
valleys  of  the  Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  Missouri,  and  occupy  the  west 
ern  slopes  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Kentucky  was  the  first  State  carved 
out  of  the  territory  of  the  great  West;  and  if  we  except  the  patriotic 
and  prosperous  Green  Mountain  State,  which  was  formed  by  the 


REMARKS    BY    MR.     BANKS    ON    THE 


division  of  territory  in  part  occupied  or  claimed  by  New  York,  hers 
was  the  first  star  added  to  the  galaxy  that  blazed  on  the  banner  of 
the  Revolution.  She  was  certainly  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Mother 
of  States,  the  predecessor  of  that  grand  array  of  local  governments  of 
the  interior  and  the  Occident  which  hereafter  may,  perhaps,  consti 
tute  the  strength,  wealth,  integrity,  and  virtue  of  the  American  Repub 
lic.  In  my  own  immediate  neighborhood  her  traditions  are  familiar 
to  the  common  people  from  the  fact  that  a  party  of  pioneers  and 
hunters  who  bivouacked  a  few  miles  from  her  frontier  settlement, 
where  they  received  the  news  of  the  first  fight  of  the  colonists  against 
the  army  of  Great  Britain,  the  igth  of  April,  1775,  at  Lexington,  in 
Massachusetts,  gave  that  name  to  the  spot  where  their  camp  was 
planted,  now  the  site  of  the  prosperous  and  patriotic  city  of  Lexing 
ton,  the  oldest,  if  not  the  most  populous  and  prosperous,  city  of  the 
State.  The  constant  repetition  of  this  incident  gave  them  their  ideas 
of  the  character  of  its  founders,  and  accustomed  them  to  associate  the 
State  and  its  hardy  pioneers  with  the  scenes  and  the  men  of  the  Revo 
lution.  In  the  war  of  1812  Kentucky,  flanked  on  the  north  and  south 
by  Ohio  and  Tennessee,  assumed  the  position  which  the  Atlantic 
colonies  maintained  during  the  war  of  independence.  Their  tradi 
tions  constitute  the  romance  of  early  American  history,  and  will  live 
in  song  and  story  as  long  as  the  virtues  of  the  founders  and  defenders 
of  the  country  shall  be  imitated  or  respected.  We  should  not  forget 
her  place  in  the  official  history  of  this  House.  Her  representatives 
have  been  chosen  for  the  distinguished  chair  you  now  occupy  more 
frequently  than  those  of  any  other  State.  And  it  is  not  and  ought 
riot  to  be  forgotten  that  in  our  most  recent  and  greatest  trial  she  was 
the  most  decided  of  the  border  States  of  the  South  that  were  relied 
upon  to  complete  the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  in  rejecting  the  here 
sies  of  secessionists  and  secession.  It  could  scarcely  be  expected  that 
a  State  cradled  amid  the  contests  of  the  Revolution,  that  cherished 
the  memories  of  such  men  as  Boone,  and  Clay,  and  Crittenden,  could 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  4! 

voluntarily  exchange  the  imperishable  glories  of  the  Union  for  the 
evanescent,  provincial,  and  vulgar  triumphs  of  isolation  and  annihila 
tion. 

The  most  interesting  features  in  the  career  of  the  distinguished 
Senator  of  Kentucky,  whose  death  is  announced  by  the  message  from 
the  Senate,  is,  that  while  the  State  he  so  long  and  honorably  repre 
sented  in  the  national  councils  is  a  connecting-link  between  the  earlier 
and  most  recent  development  of  American  civilization,  he  himself,  in 
his  varied  and  long  career,  presents  to  our  minds  a  similar  connection 
of  the  founders  of  his  State  and  the  fathers  of  the  Republic  with  the 
men  of  our  own  time,  who  are  at  this  moment  charged  with  the  grave 
responsibilities  of  local  and  general  administrations  of  government. 

With  one  exception,  he  was  the  eldest  Senator  of  his  time,  having 
been  born  in  the  first  year  of  the  present  century.  In  the  period  of 
life  when  character  commences  its  formation  he  might  have  known 
the  earlier  Presidents,  Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and  Jack 
son,  and  other  distinguished  leaders  of  that  period.  It  is  not  improb 
able  that  in  personal  intercourse,  or  by  that  oral  communication  in 
regard  to  public  men  which  makes  tradition  of  so  long  life,  he  may 
have  imbibed  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  attuned  his  aspira 
tions  and  convictions  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  generation  that 
preceded  him. 

Entering  Congress  in  the  exciting  and  stormy  period  that  immedi 
ately  preceded  the  presidential  canvass  of  1840,  he  was  the  associate 
and  compeer  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  Silas 
Wright,  Fillmore,  Caleb  Gushing,  Judge  Clifford,  President  Buchanan, 
Benton,  Calhoun,  Clay,  and  Webster.  "  There  were  giants  in  those 
days."  At  a  still  later  period  he  entered  the  Senate  as  an  opponent 
of  secession  and  the  successor  of  Breckinridge,  where  he  continued 
his  labors  with  unfaltering  fidelity  and  marvelous  industry  until  the 
close  of  the  last  session  of  the  present  Congress. 

It  was  not  my  fortune  to  have  formed  with  him  an  intimate  personal 


42  REMARKS    BY    MR.    BANKS    ON    THE 

acquaintance,  though  I  often  exchanged  with  him  the  courtesies  of 
the  day ;  and  the  very  brief  period  that  has  elapsed  since  I  was  invited 
by  the  leader  of  the  delegation  in  this  House  that  specially  mourns 
his  loss  to  take  a  part  in  the  ceremonies  of  this  occasion  has  not 
afforded  me  opportunity,  amid  the  pressing  current  business  of  the 
session,  to  present  such  an  estimate  as  I  could  desire,  if  the  opportu 
nity  offered,  of  his  influence  upon  the  legislation  of  the  country.  But 
I  venture  to  mention  several  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which, 
in  my  judgment,  distinguished  in  no  ordinary  degree  his  official  life, 
and  justify  the  confidence  and  friendship  shown  to  him  by  the  gallant 
people  he  represented.  Patriotism,  fidelity,  integrity,  industry,  and 
courtesy  were  the  virtues  that  especially  marked  his  career.  I  do 
not  permit  myself  to  question  for  a  moment  my  right  to  assign  to 
him,  as  one  of  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  character,  the  virtue  of 
patriotism.  By  this  I  mean  love  of  country — the  whole  country; 
not  servility  or  fidelity  merely  to  dogmas,  platforms,  or  parties.  The 
disciple  of  Clay  and  the  compatriot  of  Crittenden,  he  could  not  have 
been  otherwise  than  the  unfaltering  opponent  of  secession. 

The  counterpart  of  secession  was  union.  He  was  for  the  Union, 
fearless,  constant,  and  invincible  in  its  defense.  Of  this  sentiment 
he  was  the  chosen  and  honored  representative  of  his  State.  It  was 
devotion  to  this  single  sentiment  at  the  opening  of  his  senatorial 
career  in  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  constituted  true  patriotism. 
It  is  the  custom  of  our  day  to  regard  all  those  who  halt  in  support 
of  theories  and  measures  of  administrations  and  of  parties  that  break 
upon  us  from  day  to  day,  and  hour  to  hour,  as  deficient  in  loyalty 
and  patriotism.  Fidelity  to  the  Government  and  to  republican  prin 
ciples  is  held  to  depend  upon  an  unreserved  and  blind  adherence  to 
the  shifting  necessities  of  the  times,  and  upon  devotion  to  the  preser 
vation  of  the  Union  or  the  defense  of  liberty.  The  maxim  of  other 
days  and  wiser  men  points  to  a  broader  and  nobler  philosophy :  "  In 
essentials,  unity;  in  non-essentials,  liberty;  in  all  things,  charity." 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER  OF  GARRETT  DAVIS.     43 

In  his  time  hostility  to  secession  and  support  of  the  Union  were 
the  essential  duties  of  patriots.  In  this  he  gave  us  unity.  In  non- 
essentials  we  should  concede  him  liberty;  and  standing  now  near 
his  grave,  we  ought  in  all  things  to  accord  him  charity. 

But  it  will  be  as  the  friend  of  Henry  Clay  that  the  deceased 
Senator  will  be  universally  remembered.  In  this  character  his  fidelity 
has  conspicuity  and  imperishable  beauty.  Men  of  the  world,  or 
especially  those  connected  with  public  life,  come  naturally  to  distrust 
the  sincerity  of  men,  and  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  fidelity  between 
man  and  man.  But  the  common  people  have  faith  in  friendship,  and 
the  great  Kentucky  statesman  and  his  devoted  and  faithful  friend  will 
find  a  lasting  and  fond  place  in  their  memories.  Their  friendship  does 
equal  honor  to  both  parties.  It  is  the  homage  of  fidelity  to  nobility. 
Like  mercy, 

"  It  is  twice  bless'd: 

It  blesseth  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes ; 
Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest ;  it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown." 

Whoever  else  may  have  failed,  Mr.  Clay  found  in  the  now  deceased 
Senator  a  faithful  and  devoted  friend.  It  does  not  imply  on  the  part 
of  the  friend  inferiority  or  servility,  but  rather  the  higher  and  nobler 
qualities  of  nature.  The  second  place  is  often  the  purer  and  greater 
in  such  relations.  If  there  can  be  no  subordinate  place  except  in 
derogation  and  dishonor,  there  can  be  no  friendship.  Aut  Ccesar  ant 
mtllus,  is  a  maxim  anti-democratic  and  vulgar,  fatal  to  government, 
fatal  to  society,  fatal  to  liberty,  fatal  to  civilization. 

No  man  of  our  time,  I  think,  has  preserved  a  more  scrupulous 
character  for  integrity.  This  essential  quality — indispensable  to  legis 
lators  and  rulers  as  in  industry  or  commerce — he  had  in  as  high  degree 
as  any  statesman  of  our  history.  It  was  integrity  of  mind  and  integ 
rity  of  action;  and  the  general  homage  which  has  been  paid  him  by 
the  people  he  represented  is  a  touching  and  lasting  tribute  to  his 
memory. 


44 


REMARKS  BY  MR.  McHENRY  ON  THE 


Every  speaker  upon  this  occasion  has  alluded  to  his  unfailing  and 
almost  unparalleled  industry  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties. 
Public  duty  has  rarely  had  a  more  persistent  and  conscientious  servant. 
It  may,  perhaps,  be  considered  an  unimportant  trait,  but  it  is  the 
foundation  of  utility  and  success.  The  hot  blood  of  the  Southron  did 
not  fail  to  manifest  itself,  as  we  know ;  but  his  intercourse  with  asso 
ciates  and  his  deportment  in  debate  were  distinguished  by  scrupulous 
regard  for  the  rights  of  others  and  the  freedom  of  discussion. 

Mr.  Speaker,  in  these  essential  elements  of  character  the  deceased 
Senator  was  a  man  whom  we  might  well  imitate  and  may  well  honor ; 
and  I  trust  his  example  and  his  record  will  be  long  remembered  by 
the  people  of  the  country  as  illustrating  the  career  of  a  distinguished 
and  honorable  member  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 


REMARKS  BY    MR.    MCHENRY,   OF  KENTUCKY. 

Mr.  SPEAKER:  I  cannot  permit  the  last  sad  ceremonies  on  the 
death  of  the  distinguished  Senator  from  my  State  to  pass  without 
adding  my  humble  and  heart-felt  tribute  to  his  memory,  and  saying 
a  few  words  in  commemoration  of  his  talents  and  virtues.  I  shall 
not,  however,  attempt  to  give  the  history  of  his  life;  that  has  been 
truthfully  given  by  my  colleague,  [Mr.  Beck.]  It  is  enough  for  me  to 
say  that  he  lived  to  the  age  of  threescore  and  ten,  the  time  allotted 
to  man,  and  that  he  died  with  honors  clustering  thick  around  him. 

That  he  was  honest,  industrious,  faithful,  and  talented,  is  well  known 
and  recognized  by  his  contemporaries  in  Congress  and  his  constituents 
at  home;  and  all  can  bear  witness  to  the  high  political  integrity  and 
patriotism  of  his  public  life.  His  name  and  fame  will  be  preserved 
in  the  history  of  Congress,  and  the  records  of  either  House  attest  his 
zeal  for  his  State  and  country,  and  the  indefatigable  energy  and 
ability  which  he  manifested  on  all  the  great  questions  which  were 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS. 


45 


presented  here  during  his  twenty  years  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 
He  was  not  ambitious  so  far  as  concerned  his  individual  preferment; 
it  was  for  his  country  and  his  State  that  he  struggled  for  position. 
That  he  might  add  to  their  welfare,  and  to  the  happiness  of  his  people, 
was  the  manly  and  patriotic  effort  of  his  life.  He  was  of  those  whose 
lot  it  was — 

"The  applause  of  listening  senates  to  command, 

The  threats  of  pain  and  ruin  to  despise ; 
To  scatter  plenty  o'er  a  smiling  land, 

And  read  their  history  in  a  nation's  eyes." 

He  never  aspired  to  a  position  that  the  people  did  not  want  him 
to  fill,  and  consequently  he  never  sustained  a  defeat  for  any  office  for 
which  he  was  a  candidate.  It  was  my  fortune  to  have  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Kentucky  Legislature  each  time  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
Senate,  and  I  can  but  remember,  in  his  last  contest  for  a  seat  there, 
when  the  indications  were  that  another  distinguished  gentleman 
seemed  the  choice  of  the  political  party  to  which  he  belonged,  he 
retired  from  the  contest  immediately,  and  declined  with  so  much 
grace,  and  with  such  little  show  of  chagrin  or  mortification,  that  a 
strong  feeling  of  admiration  for  his  manly  qualities  sprang  up  in  that 
body  and  resulted  in  his  triumphant  election. 

Mr.  DAVIS  formed  his  opinions  on  political  matters  with  deliberation 
and  honesty  of  purpose,  and  adhered  to  them  with  great  fidelity  and 
tenacity  when  he  believed  them  to  be  right.  In  evidence  of  this,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  convention  which  formed  the  present  constitu- 
tipn  of  Kentucky,  and  was  prominent  in  the  debates  and  deliberations 
of  that  body,  and  many  of  its  provisions  are  the  result  of  his  opinions 
and  influence;  but  to  some  of  its  innovations  upon  old  conservative 
ideas  he  was  so  conscientiously  and  unalterably  opposed  that  he 
refused  to  sign  it,  and  chose  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  convention 
rather  than  connect  his  name  with  an  instrument  which  he  could  not 
approve.  But,  sir,  when  he  ascertained  that  he  was  wrong,  no  pride 
of  opinion,  no  love  of  consistency,  prevented  him  from  placing  him- 


46  REMARKS    BY    MR.    McHENRY    ON    THE 

self  in  the  right,  and  making  the  amende  honorable  if  that  opinion 
had  done  injustice  to  another.  As  an  example  of  this,  I  refer  to  what 
is  well  known  in  this  Capitol,  that  after  having  introduced  a  resolution 
for  the  expulsion  of  his  distinguished  colleague,  Senator  Powell,  he 
afterward  made  a  manly  retraction  in  the  open  Senate,  and  extended 
his  hand  so  cordially  to  the  gentleman,  to  whom  he  admitted  he  had 
done  injustice,  that  they  were  warm  and  devoted  friends  afterward, 
and  co-operated  most  earnestly  for  the  interest  of  their  native  State. 

Mr.  DAVIS'S  devotion  to  duty,  and  his  energy  to  accomplish  what 
ever  he  believed  to  be  for  the  welfare  of  his  country,  were  above  all 
personal  considerations.  During  the  last  session,  when  he  was  sud 
denly  stricken  with  disease,  which  afterward  proved  fatal,  I  was  the 
first  of  his  colleagues  who  hastened  to  his  bedside.  I  found  him 
prostrate,  with  just  enough  of  life  for  him  to  feel  that  the  light  of  this 
world  was  fast  fading  from  him;  but  even  in  that  hour  his  thoughts 
turned  to  his  duties  as  a  Senator,  and  he  charged  me  with  a  message 
to  his  friends  in  the  Senate  to  get  his  vote  paired  off  on  the  amnesty 
bill  then  under  consideration,  and  for  the  passage  of  which  he  felt 
great  interest. 

Mr.  DAVIS  was  not  a  genius,  nor  were  his  talents  of  that  brilliant 
style,  nor  his  eloquence  so  commanding,  as  some  of  his  predecessors 
whose  names  have  become  immortal;  but  he  was  eminently  practical, 
strong,  and  forcible  in  his  ideas,  with  a  graceful  flow  of  language 
which  gave  much  eloquence  to  his  speeches,  and  made  him  the  peer 
in  debate  of  any  man  in  the  Senate,  and  his  State  may  well  be  proud 
of  the  rank  he  held  and  the  record  he  left  behind  him.  In  his  pri 
vate  life  he  was  kind,  generous,  and  noble;  courteous  and  dignified 
in  his  bearing,  seldom  offensive,  and  with  a  temperament  and  courage 
that  brooked  no  insult  from  others;  yet— 

"His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  'This  was  a  man.' " 


LIFE    AND    CHARACTER    OF    GARRETT    DAVIS.  47 

He  died  among  his  friends,  and  his  ashes  repose  in  the  bosom  of 
his  loved  Kentucky.  The  last  sad  rites  have  there  been  held.  This 
is  the  closing  scene.  His  history  is  now  finished,  and  shows  us  much 
to  admire,  much  to  emulate;  some  things,  perhaps,  to  condemn. 
Frailty  is  human.  The  lives  of  all  are  checkered  with  error.  Not 
many  of  us  will  leave  so  few  clouds  on  our  escutcheon.  He  has 
fulfilled  his  mission  and  accomplished  his  destiny. 

"Why  weep  ye,  then,  for  him,  who,  having  run 
The  bound  of  man's  appointed  years,  at  last, 
Life's  blessings  all  enjoyed,  life's  labors  done, 

Serenely  to  his  final  rest  has  passed ; 
While  the  soft  memory  of  his  virtues  yet 
Lingers  like  twilight  hues  when  the  bright  sun  has  set?  " 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  offer  the  following  resolutions,  and  move  their 
adoption : 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  House  has  learned  with  feelings  of  profound 
regret  that  the  Hon.  GARRETT  DAVIS,  late  a  Senator  in  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  from  the  Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  departed 
this  life  at  his  residence  near  Paris,  in  that  State,  on  the  22d  of  Sep 
tember,  1872,  during  the  recess  of  this  body. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  Mr.  DAVIS  this  country  has  lost  a 
citizen  eminent  for  his  public  and  private  virtues,  a  statesman  of  the 
purest  patriotism,  a  Senator  of  ability  and  worth,  and  that  his  death 
is  deplored  by  the  whole  country. 

Resolved,  That,  as  a  testimony  of  our  respect  for  the  memory  of  the 
deceased,  the  members  and  officers  of  the  House  will  wear  the  usual 
badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days. 

Resolved,  That  as  a  further  mark  of  respect  for  his  memory,  the 
House  do  now  adjourn. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 

And  accordingly  (at  four  o'clock  and  twenty  minutes  p.  m.)  the 
House  adjourned. 


YD    12390 


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